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Environmental drivers of distribution and reef development of the Mediterranean coral Cladocora caespitosa

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Abstract

Cladocora caespitosa is the only Mediterranean scleractinian similar to tropical reef-building corals. While this species is part of the recent fossil history of the Mediterranean Sea, it is currently considered endangered due to its decline during the last decades. Environmental factors affecting the distribution and persistence of extensive bank reefs of this endemic species across its whole geographic range are poorly understood. In this study, we examined the environmental response of C. caespitosa and its main types of assemblages using ecological niche modeling and ordination analysis. We also predicted other suitable areas for the occurrence of the species and assessed the conservation effectiveness of Mediterranean marine protected areas (MPAs) for this coral. We found that phosphate concentration and wave height were factors affecting both the occurrence of this versatile species and the distribution of its extensive bioconstructions in the Mediterranean Sea. A set of factors (diffuse attenuation coefficient, calcite and nitrate concentrations, mean wave height, sea surface temperature, and shape of the coast) likely act as environmental barriers preventing the species from expansion to the Atlantic Ocean and the Black Sea. Uncertainties in our large-scale statistical results and departures from previous physiological and ecological studies are also discussed under an integrative perspective. This study reveals that Mediterranean MPAs encompass eight of the ten banks and 16 of the 21 beds of C. caespitosa. Preservation of water clarity by avoiding phosphate discharges may improve the protection of this emblematic species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Diego Kersting and an anonymous referee for their useful and constructive comments to improve the manuscript. We also thank Jorge Lobo for his encouragement, and comments on a previous version of the manuscript. Ricardo Aguilar, Enric Ballesteros, Erik Caroselli, Julia Crespo, José Antonio Fayos, Carlos Jiménez, Baris Özalp, Pascal Romans, Manu San Félix, Eduard Serrano, and Alejandro Terrón-Sigler provided us with useful observations on the occurrence of C. caespitosa. RMC was supported by the postdoctoral fellowship SFRH/BPD/85040/2012 from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) and JT by the project ConCoast (CTM2014-57949-R) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. This article is a contribution to the European project COCONET from the VII FP of the European Commission. We also acknowledge FCT funding by “UID/Multi/04326/2013” to CCMAR.

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  1. CCMAR-CIMAR Laboratório Associado, Centre for Marine Sciences, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal

    Rosa M. Chefaoui

  2. Hombre y Territorio Association, HyT, C/Betania 13, 41007, Seville, Spain

    Pilar Casado-Amezúa

  3. National Museum of Natural History, MNCN-CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    José Templado

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  1. Rosa M. Chefaoui
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Correspondence to Rosa M. Chefaoui.

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Chefaoui, R.M., Casado-Amezúa, P. & Templado, J. Environmental drivers of distribution and reef development of the Mediterranean coral Cladocora caespitosa . Coral Reefs 36, 1195–1209 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-017-1611-8

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