Prehistorical and historical declines in Caribbean coral reef accretion rates driven by loss of parrotfish
Prehistorical and historical declines in Caribbean coral reef accretion rates driven by loss of parrotfish
Caribbean coral reefs have transformed into algal-dominated habitats over recent decades, but the mechanisms of change are unresolved due to a lack of quantitative ecological data before large-scale human impacts. To understand the role of reduced herbivory in recent coral declines, we produce a high-resolution 3,000 year record of reef accretion rate and herbivore (parrotfish and urchin) abundance from the analysis of sediments and fish, coral and urchin subfossils within cores from Caribbean Panama.
Publication Date:
23/01/2017
1-8