Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Algal turf negatively affects recruitment of a Caribbean octocoral

  • Report
  • Published:
Coral Reefs Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Algal cover has increased and scleractinian coral cover has steadily declined over the past 40 years on Caribbean coral reefs, while octocoral abundance has increased at sites where abundances have been monitored. The effects of algal cover on recruitment may be a key component in these patterns, as upright octocoral recruits may escape competition with algae by growing above the ubiquitous algal turfs. We used laboratory and field recruitment experiments to examine impacts of algal turf on recruitment of the common, upright, and zooxanthellate Caribbean octocoral Plexaura homomalla. Laboratory recruitment rate was significantly higher in lower turf cover treatments. The survival of recruits in the field was significantly reduced by increased turf cover; for every 1% increase in turf cover, polyps died 1.3% faster. In a model parameterized by the observed field survival, polyps exposed to 100% turf cover had a 2% survival rate over 51 days, while polyps exposed to no turf cover had a 32% survival rate over the same time. We found that high densities of turf algae can significantly inhibit recruitment of octocorals. Experimentally obtained octocoral survival rates were higher than those published for Caribbean octocorals. The factors that influence recruitment are critical in understanding the dynamics of octocorals on Caribbean reefs as continuing declines in scleractinian cover may lead to more octocoral-dominated communities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adey WH, Steneck RS (1985) Highly productive eastern Caribbean reefs: Synergistic effects of biological, chemical, physical, and geological factors. In: Reaka ML (ed) The ecology of coral reefs. NOAA Undersea Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp 163–187

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold SN, Steneck RS, Mumby PJ (2010) Running the gauntlet: Inhibitory effects of algal turfs on the processes of coral recruitment. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 414:91–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barki Y, Gateño D, Graur D, Rinkevich B (2002) Soft-coral natural chimerism: A window in ontogeny allows the creation of entities comprised of incongruous parts. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 231:91–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett LA, Brinkhuis VIP, Ruzicka RR, Colella MA, Lunz KS, Leone EH, Hallock P (2018) Chapter 6. Dynamics of stony coral and octocoral juvenile assemblages following disturbance on patch reefs of the Florida Reef Tract. In: Duque C, Camacho ET (eds) Corals in a changing world. London, UK, IntechOpen, pp 99–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates D, Mächler M, Bolker B, Walker S (2015) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. J Stat Softw 67:48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beijbom O (2015) Automated annotation of coral reef survey images. Ph.D. thesis, University of California, San Diego, p 130

  • Birrell CL, McCook LJ, Willis BL, Diaz-Pulido GA (2008) Effects of benthic algae on the replenishment of corals and the implications for the resilience of coral reefs. In: Atkinson RJA, Gordon JDM (eds) Gibson RN. Oceanography and marine biology, An annual review. Taylor & Francis, pp 25–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonaldo RM, Hay ME (2014) Seaweed-coral interactions: Variance in seaweed allelopathy, coral susceptibility, and potential effects on coral resilience. PLoS ONE 9:e85786

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Box SJ, Mumby PJ (2007) Effect of macroalgal competition on growth and survival of juvenile Caribbean corals. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 342:139–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown AL, Carpenter RC (2013) Water-flow mediated oxygen dynamics within massive Porites-algal turf interactions. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 490:1–10

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Caley MJ, Carr MH, Hixon MA, Hughes TP, Jones GP, Menge BA (1996) Recruitment and the local dynamics of open marine populations. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 27:477–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canty A, Ripley B (2017) boot: Bootstrap R (S-Plus) Functions

  • Carpenter RC, Williams SL (1993) Effects of algal turf canopy height and microscale substratum topography on profiles of flow speed in a coral forereef environment. Limnol Oceanogr 38:687–694

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casey JM, Ainsworth TD, Choat JH, Connolly SR (2014) Farming behaviour of reef fishes increases the prevalence of coral disease associated microbes and black band disease. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 281

  • Clark PJ, Evans FC (1954) Distance to nearest neighbor as a measure of spatial relationships in populations. Ecology 35:445–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coelho MAG, Lasker HR (2016) Larval behavior and settlement dynamics of a ubiquitous Caribbean octocoral and its implications for dispersal. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 561:109–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coles SL, Brown EK (2007) Twenty-five years of change in coral coverage on a hurricane impacted reef in Hawai‘i: The importance of recruitment. Coral Reefs 26:705–717

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH (1985) The consequences of variation in initial settlement vs. post-settlement mortality in rocky intertidal communities. J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 93:11–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox DR (1972) Regression models and life tables. J R Stat Soc Series B Stat Methodol 34:187–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawley MJ (2000) Chapter 7: Seed predators and plant population dynamics. In: Fenner M (ed) Seeds: The ecology of regeneration in plant communities. CAB International, pp 167–182

  • Edmunds PJ, Lasker HR (2016) Cryptic regime shift in benthic community structure on shallow reefs in St. John, US Virgin Islands. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 559:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans MJ, Coffroth MA, Lasker HR (2013) Effects of predator exclusion on recruit survivorship in an octocoral (Briareum asbestinum) and a scleractinian coral (Porites astreoides). Coral Reefs 32:597–601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaines SD, Roughgarden J (1985) Larval settlement rate: A leading determinant of structure in an ecological community of the marine intertidal zone. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 82:3707

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner TA, Côté IM, Gill JA, Grant A, Watkinson AR (2005) Hurricanes and Caribbean coral reefs: Impacts, recovery patterns, and role in long-term decline. Ecology 86:174–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gleason DF, Hofmann DK (2011) Coral larvae: From gametes to recruits. J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 408:42–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goreau TF, Cervino J, Goreau M, Hayes R, Hayes M, Richardson L, Smith G, DeMeyer K, Nagelkerken I, Garzon-Ferrera J, Gil D, Garrison G, Williams EH, Bunckley-Williams L, Quirolo C, Patterson K, Porter JW, Porter K (1998) Rapid spread of diseases in Caribbean coral reefs. Rev Biol Trop 46:157–171

    Google Scholar 

  • Grigg RW (1988) Recruitment limitation of a deep benthic hard-bottom octocoral population in the Hawaiian Islands. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 45:121–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gunderson LH (2000) Ecological resilience - in theory and application. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 31:425–439

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hay ME (1981) The functional morphology of turf-forming seaweeds: Persistence in stressful marine habitats. Ecology 62:739–750

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan EL, Meier P (1958) Nonparametric estimation from incomplete observations53:457–481

  • Kinzie RA III (1973) The zonation of West Indian gorgonians. Bull Mar Sci 23:93–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Kramer MJ, Bellwood DR, Bellwood O (2012) Cryptofauna of the epilithic algal matrix on an inshore coral reef, Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs 31:1007–1015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuffner IB, Walters LJ, Becerro MA, Paul VJ, Ritson-Williams R, Beach KS (2006) Inhibition of coral recruitment by macroalgae and cyanobacteria. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 323:107–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lasker HR, Kim K (1996) Larval development and settlement behavior of the gorgonian coral Plexaura kuna (Lasker, Kim and Coffroth). J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 207:161–175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lasker HR, Kim K, Coffroth MA (1998) Production, settlement, and survival of plexaurid gorgonian recruits. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 162:111–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lasker HR, Martínez-Quintana Á, Bramanti L, Edmunds PJ (2020) Resilience of octocoral forests to catastrophic storms. Sci Rep 10:4286

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lenz EA, Bramanti L, Lasker HR, Edmunds PJ (2015) Long-term variation of octocoral populations in St. John. US Virgin Islands Coral Reefs 34:1099–1109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linares C, Doak DF, Coma R, Díaz D, Zabala M (2007) Life history and viability of a long-lived marine invertebrate: The octocoral Paramuricea clavata. Ecology 88:918–928

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Linares C, Cebrian E, Coma R (2012) Effects of turf algae on recruitment and juvenile survival of gorgonian corals. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 452:81–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McManus LC, Watson JR, Vasconcelos VV, Levin SA (2019) Stability and recovery of coral-algae systems: The importance of recruitment seasonality and grazing influence. Theor Ecol 12:61–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McWilliams JP, Côté IM, Gill JA, Sutherland WJ, Watkinson AR (2005) Accelerating impacts of temperature-induced coral bleaching in the Caribbean. Ecology 86:2055–2060

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelder JA, Wedderburn RWM (1972) Generalized linear models. J R Stat Soc Ser A 135:370–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norström AV, Nyström M, Lokrantz J, Folke C (2009) Alternative states on coral reefs: Beyond coral–macroalgal phase shifts. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 376:295–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nozawa Y (2008) Micro-crevice structure enhances coral spat survivorship. J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 367:127–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nozawa Y, Tanaka K, Reimer JD (2011) Reconsideration of the surface structure of settlement plates used in coral recruitment studies. Zool Stud 50:53–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Nugues MM, Smith GW, van Hooidonk RJ, Seabra MI, Bak RPM (2004) Algal contact as a trigger for coral disease. Ecol Lett 7:919–923

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oksanen J, Blanchet FG, Friendly M, Kindt R, Legendre P, McGlinn D, Minchin PR, O'Hara RB, Simpson GL, Solymos P, Stevens HH, Szoecs E, Wagner H (2019) vegan: Community Ecology Package

  • Penin L, Michonneau F, Carroll A, Adjeroud M (2011) Effects of predators and grazers exclusion on early post-settlement coral mortality. Hydrobiologia 663:259–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prada C, Weil E, Yoshioka PM (2010) Octocoral bleaching during unusual thermal stress. Coral Reefs 29:41–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price NN, Muko S, Legendre L, Steneck RS, van Oppen MJH, Albright R, Ang P Jr, Carpenter RC, Chui APY, Fan TY, Gates RD, Harii S, Kitano H, Kurihara H, Mitarai S, Padilla-Gamiño JL, Sakai K, Suzuki G, Edmunds PJ (2019) Global biogeography of coral recruitment: Tropical decline and subtropical increase. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 621:1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Privitera-Johnson K, Lenz EA, Edmunds PJ (2015) Density-associated recruitment in octocoral communities in St. John, US Virgin Islands. J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 473:103–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2019) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. In: R Foundation for Statistical Computing (ed). R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, AT

  • Raimondi PT (1988) Rock type affects settlement, recruitment, and zonation of the barnacle Chthamalus anisopoma Pilsbury. J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 123:253–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasher DB, Stout EP, Engel S, Kubanek J, Hay ME (2011) Macroalgal terpenes function as allelopathic agents against reef corals. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108:17726

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • River GF, Edmunds PJ (2001) Mechanisms of interaction between macroalgae and scleractinians on a coral reef in Jamaica. J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 261:159–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruzicka RR, Colella MA, Porter JW, Morrison JM, Kidney JA, Brinkhuis VIP, Lunz KS, Macaulay KA, Bartlett LA, Meyers MK, Colee J (2013) Temporal changes in benthic assemblages on Florida Keys reefs 11 years after the 1997/1998 El Niño. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 489:125–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez JA, Gómez-Corrales M, Gutierrez-Cala L, Vergara DC, Roa P, González-Zapata FL, Gnecco M, Puerto N, Neira L, Sarmiento A (2019) Steady decline of corals and other benthic organisms in the SeaFlower Biosphere Reserve (Southwestern Caribbean). Front Mar Sci 6:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro SS, Wilk MB (1965) An analysis of variance test for normality (complete samples). Biometrika 52:591–611

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slattery M, Hines GA, Starmer J, Paul VJ (1999) Chemical signals in gametogenesis, spawning, and larval settlement and defense of the soft coral Sinularia polydactyla. Coral Reefs 18:75–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spearman C (1904) The proof and measurement of association between two things:72–101

  • Tebbett SB, Bellwood DR (2019) Algal turf sediments on coral reefs: what's known and what's next149:110542

  • Therneau TM (2015) A package for survival analysis in S

  • Therneau TM (2020) coxme: Mixed Effects Cox Models

  • Tsounis G, Edmunds PJ (2017) Three decades of coral reef community dynamics in St. John, USVI: A contrast of scleractinians and octocorals. Ecosphere 8:e01646

  • Tsounis G, Edmunds PJ, Bramanti L, Gambrel B, Lasker HR (2018) Variability of size structure and species composition in Caribbean octocoral communities under contrasting environmental conditions. Mar Biol 165:29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsounis G, Steele MA, Edmunds PJ (2020) Elevated feeding rates of fishes within octocoral canopies on Caribbean reefs. Coral Reefs 39:1299–1311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vreeland HV, Lasker HR (1989) Selective feeding of the polychaete Hermodice carunculata Pallas on Caribbean gorgonians. J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 129:265–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warner RR, Chesson PL (1985) Coexistence mediated by recruitment fluctuations: A field guide to the storage effect. Am Nat 125:769–787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams SM, Chollett I, Roff G, Cortés J, Dryden CS, Mumby PJ (2015) Hierarchical spatial patterns in Caribbean reef benthic assemblages. J Biogeogr 42:1327–1335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright JS (2002) Plant diversity in tropical forests: a review of mechanisms of species coexistence. Oecologia 130:1–14

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yoshioka PM (1996) Variable recruitment and its effects on the population and community structure of shallow-water gorgonians. Bull Mar Sci 59:433–443

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoshioka PM (1997) A community-level analysis of spatial mortality patterns. J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 214:167–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoshioka PM (2005) Biotic neighborhoods of shallow-water gorgonians of Puerto Rico. Bull Mar Sci 76:625–636

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was completed under permits from the Virgin Islands National Park (VIIS-2019-SCI-0011) and the Virgin Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW19010) and was funded by the National Science Foundation (OCE 17-56381). We thank the Virgin Islands Environmental Research Station and the University of the Virgin Islands for laboratory space, L. Bramanti and A.M. Wilson for field and laboratory assistance, and E.R. Anderson and P.J. Edmunds for reading and commenting on the manuscript. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Christopher D. Wells, Kaitlyn J. Tonra & Howard R. Lasker

  2. Department of Environment and Sustainability, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Ángela Martínez-Quintana & Howard R. Lasker

  3. Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Kaitlyn J. Tonra

Authors
  1. Christopher D. Wells
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ángela Martínez-Quintana
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kaitlyn J. Tonra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Howard R. Lasker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher D. Wells.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Topical Editor Andrew Hoey

Supplementary Information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wells, C.D., Martínez-Quintana, Á., Tonra, K.J. et al. Algal turf negatively affects recruitment of a Caribbean octocoral. Coral Reefs 40, 1045–1053 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02103-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02103-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation