Abstract
Reef functionality depends on the coral community’s species composition, abundance, and on the capacity of corals to build carbonate structures. Nevertheless, the coral’s contribution to functionality remains hidden in species morphological variation displayed. Here, we use three-dimensional (3D) models to estimate the morpho-functional space of 14 Caribbean coral species by combining information from five morphological traits (sphericity, convexity, packing, first moment of surface area, and first moment of volume). Based on a principal component analysis, we selected the trait that captured most of the coral morphological variation to address the effect of colony size on structural complexity, shelter volume, and efficiency of resource use in terms of colony volume and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) investment. At the species level, structural complexity increased as a function of coral colony size in branching, digitate, and columnar coral species. Shelter volume increased with colony size in all species; however, branching species such as Acropora palmata not only provide more shelter volume than species with simpler morphologies, but they do so more efficiently, investing less colony volume and CaCO3 mass for attaining the same shelter volume. Tracking changes in coral morphologies and colony size can improve our ability to predict functional repercussions from modifications to coral assemblages that are caused by, for example, disease outbreaks or environmental disturbances.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the figshare repository (https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22726568.v1).
References
Agudo-Adriani EA, Cappelletto J, Cavada-Blanco F, Croquer A (2016) Colony geometry and structural complexity of the endangered species Acropora cervicornis partly explains the structure of their associated fish assemblage. PeerJ 4(4):e1861. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1861
Álvarez-Filip L, Carricart-Ganivet JP, Horta-Puga G, Iglesias-Prieto R (2013) Shifts in coral-assemblage composition do not ensure persistence of reef functionality. Sci Rep 3(1):3486. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep03486
Alvarez-Filip L, González-Barrios FJ, Pérez-Cervantes E, Molina-Hernández A, Estrada-Saldívar N (2022) Stony coral tissue loss disease decimated Caribbean coral populations and reshaped reef functionality. Commun Biol 5(1):1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03398-6
Aronson RB, Precht WF (2001) White-band disease and the changing face of Caribbean coral reefs. Hydrobiologia 460(1/3):25–38. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013103928980
Aston EA, Duce S, Hoey AS, Ferrari R (2022) A protocol for extracting structural metrics from 3D reconstructions of corals. Front Mar Sci 9:395. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.854395
Bozec YM, Alvarez-Filip L, Mumby PJ (2015) The dynamics of architectural complexity on coral reefs under climate change. Glob Change Biol 21(1):223–235. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12698
Cabral-Tena RA, López-Pérez A, Alvarez-Filip L, González-Barrios FJ, Calderon-Aguilera LE, Aparicio-Cid C (2020) Functional potential of coral assemblages along a typical Eastern Tropical Pacific reef tract. Ecol Ind 119:106795. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106795
Darling ES, Alvarez-Filip L, Oliver TA, McClanahan TR, Côté IM (2012) Evaluating life-history strategies of reef corals from species traits. Ecol Lett 15(12):1378–1386. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01861.x
Darling ES, Graham NAJ, Januchowski-Hartley FA, Nash KL, Pratchett MS, Wilson SK (2017) Relationships between structural complexity, coral traits, and reef fish assemblages. Coral Reefs 36(2):561–575. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-017-1539-z
Estrada-Saldívar N, Jordán-Dalhgren E, Rodríguez-Martínez RE, Perry C, Alvarez-Filip L (2019) Functional consequences of the long-term decline of reef-building corals in the Caribbean: evidence of across-reef functional convergence. R Soc Open Sci 6(10):190298. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.190298
González-Barrios FJ, Álvarez-Filip L (2018) A framework for measuring coral species-specific contribution to reef functioning in the Caribbean. Ecol Ind 95:877–886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.08.038
Graham NAJ, Nash KL (2013) The importance of structural complexity in coral reef ecosystems. Coral Reefs 32(2):315–326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-012-0984-y
Guendulain-García SD, Lopez-Beltran A, Banaszak AT, Álvarez-Filip L, Ramírez-Chávez E, García-Medrano D, Sellares-Blasco R, López-Pérez A (2023) Photogrammetry for coral structural complexity: What is beyond sight? Coral Reefs 1:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-023-02368-6
Harborne A, Mumby P, Kennedy E, Ferrari R (2011) Biotic and multi-scale abiotic controls of habitat quality: their effect on coral-reef fishes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 437:201–214. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09280
Harris DL, Rovere A, Casella E, Power H, Canavesio R, Collin A, Pomeroy A, Webster JM, Parravicini V (2018) Coral reef structural complexity provides important coastal protection from waves under rising sea levels. Sci Adv. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aao4350
Hensel E, Allgeier JE, Layman CA (2019) Effects of predator presence and habitat complexity on reef fish communities in The Bahamas. Mar Biol 166(10):136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-019-3568-3
Hixon MA, Beets JP (1993) Predation, prey refuges, and the structure of coral-reef fish assemblages. Ecol Monogr 63(1):77–101. https://doi.org/10.2307/2937124
Hughes TP, Anderson KD, Connolly SR, Heron SF, Kerry JT, Lough JM, Baird AH, Baum JK, Berumen ML, Bridge TC, Claar DC, Eakin CM, Gilmour JP, Graham NAJ, Harrison H, Hobbs JPA, Hoey AS, Hoogenboom M, Lowe RJ, McCulloch MT, Pandolfi JM, Pratchett M, Schoepf V, Torda G, Wilson SK (2018) Spatial and temporal patterns of mass bleaching of corals in the Anthropocene. Science 359:80–83. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan8048
Kerry JT, Bellwood DR (2012) The effect of coral morphology on shelter selection by coral reef fishes. Coral Reefs 31(2):415–424. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-011-0859-7
Lange ID, Perry CT (2020) A quick, easy and non-invasive method to quantify coral growth rates using photogrammetry and 3D model comparisons. Methods Ecol Evol 11(6):714–726. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13388
Luckhurst E, Luckhurst K (1978) Analysis of the influence of substrate variables on coral reef fish communities. Mar Biol 49:317–323. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00455026
McWilliam M, Hoogenboom MO, Baird AH, Kuo C-Y, Madin JS, Hughes TP (2018) Biogeographical disparity in the functional diversity and redundancy of corals. Proc Natl Acad Sci 115(12):3084–3089. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1716643115
National Marine Fisheries Service (2015) Recovery plan for Elkhorn (Acropora palmata) and Staghorn (A. cervicornis) Corals. Prepared by the Acropora Recovery Team for the National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, 167 p
Noonan SHC, Jones GP, Pratchett MS (2012) Coral size, health and structural complexity: effects on the ecology of a coral reef damselfish. In: Marine ecology progress series, vol 456, pp 127–137. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09687
Öhman MC, Rajasuriya A (1998) Relationships between habitat structure and fish communities on coral. Environ Biol Fishes 53(1):19–31. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007445226928
Pandolfi JM, Jackson JBC (2006) Ecological persistence interrupted in Caribbean coral reefs. Ecol Lett 9(7):818–826. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00933.x
Perry CT, Alvarez-Filip L (2018) Changing geo-ecological functions of coral reefs in the Anthropocene. Funct Ecol 1365–2435:13247. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13247
Pratchett MS, Anderson KD, Hoogenboom MO, Widman E, Baird AH, Pandolfi JM, Edmunds PJ, Lough JM (2015) Spatial, temporal and taxonomic variation in coral growth—implications for the structure and function of coral reef ecosystems. In: An annual review, vol 53
R Core Team (2021) R: a language and environment for statisticalcomputing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna
Richardson LE, Graham NAJ, Hoey AS (2017a) Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs. Sci Rep 7(1):7557. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08109-4
Richardson LE, Graham NAJ, Pratchett MS, Hoey AS (2017b) Structural complexity mediates functional structure of reef fish assemblages among coral habitats. Environ Biol Fishes 100(3):193–207. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-016-0571-0
Roff G, Joseph J, Mumby PJ (2020) Multi-decadal changes in structural complexity following mass coral mortality on a Caribbean reef. Biogeosciences 17(23):5909–5918. https://doi.org/10.5194/BG-17-5909-2020
Schlager S, Francois G (2017) Package “Rvcg” title manipulations of triangular meshes based on the “VCGLIB” API
Scott PJB (1987) Associations between corals and macro-infaunal invertebrates in Jamaica, with a list of Caribbean and Atlantic coral associates. Bull Mar Sci 40(2):71–286
Sloan NA (1982) Size and structure of echinoderm populations associated with different coexisting coral species at Aldabra Atoll. Seychelles Mar Biol 66(1):67–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397256
Stella JS, Jones GP, Pratchett MS (2010) Variation in the structure of epifaunal invertebrate assemblages among coral hosts. Coral Reefs 29(4):957–973. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-010-0648-8
Tebbett SB, Connolly SR, Bellwood DR (2023) Benthic composition changes on coral reefs at global scales. Nat Ecol Evol 7(1):71–81. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01937-2
Urbina-Barreto I, Chiroleu F, Pinel R, Fréchon L, Mahamadaly V, Elise S, Kulbicki M, Quod J-P, Dutrieux E, Garnier R, Henrich Bruggemann J, Penin L, Adjeroud M (2021) Quantifying the shelter capacity of coral reefs using photogrammetric 3D modeling: from colonies to reefscapes. Ecol Ind 121:107151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107151
Veron JEN (1996) Corals in space and time: the biogeography and evolution of the scleractinia. In: Veron JEN (ed) Cornell University Press (Issue 2). Comstock/Cornell. https://doi.org/10.1086/419409
Whittey KE, Dunkley K, Young GC, Cable J, Perkins SE (2021) Microhabitats of sharknose goby (Elacatinus evelynae) cleaning stations and their links with cleaning behaviour. Coral Reefs 40(4):1069–1080. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02105-x
Zawada KJA, Dornelas M, Madin JS (2019a) Quantifying coral morphology. Coral Reefs 38(6):1281–1292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-019-01842-4
Zawada KJA, Madin JS, Baird AH, Bridge TCL, Dornelas M (2019b) Morphological traits can track coral reef responses to the Anthropocene. Funct Ecol 33(6):962–975. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13358
Acknowledgements
SDGG was supported by scholarships from CONAHCyT (Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías, Mexico), fellowship no. 314395 and the Kenneth Jay Boss Fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution. Field work in Mexico was partially supported by CONACYT Project No, 425888. We want to thank the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), El Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Republica Dominicana and El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Mexico; we also thank Carlos Zuriel, Patricia Torres Pineda and Dr. Miguel Ángel Ruiz Zárate for granting access to the coral collection in Mexico. We also thank The Dominican Foundation for Marine Studies (FUNDEMAR) for facilitating resources and logistics support during field work. We are indebted to Alido Luis Baez, Juan Adrien Profet, Eduardo Ávila, Diego García Medrano, Michael Del Rosario, and Rebeca García Campo for assistance during field work. During data processing we received advice on programming from Eduardo Ramírez-Chávez, Kyle Zawada, Cuauhtémoc Aparicio Cid, Ruben Olmo Gilabert, and Fernando Pardo.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Authors declare to have no financial or non-financial interest that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Guendulain-Garcia, S.D., Banaszak, A.T., Álvarez-Filip, L. et al. Three-dimensional morphological variation and physical functionality of Caribbean corals. Coral Reefs 43, 405–413 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02472-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02472-1