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Variable response of Red Sea coral communities to recent disturbance events along a latitudinal gradient

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Abstract

Coral reefs are experiencing a dramatic loss of hard coral abundance and associated habitat structure from a myriad of local and global factors. Here, utilizing U–Th radiometric age-dating of coral death assemblages, we investigated patterns of coral mortality from the eastern margin of the Red Sea along a latitudinal gradient (Yanbu, 24o N; Thuwal, 22o N; Al-Lith, 19o N; Farasan Banks, 18o N) in 2018 and 2019. In all four regions, radiometric ages of in situ dead Acropora and Pocillopora colonies were largely confined to the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. During the early twenty-first century, coral mortality was found to be synchronous with previously documented bleaching events in 2010 and 2015 and, at one site (Farasan Banks), an outbreak of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) in 2009. The most northern site, Yanbu, had the highest relative percentage of live coral (42 ± 4%) and of living Acropora, and may serve as a refugium under climate warming scenarios. For the three southern regions (Thuwal, Al-Lith, Farasan Banks) benthic structure was mostly comprised of dead corals. The southernmost survey site, Farasan Banks, underwent a dramatic change in coral benthic structure associated with a COTS outbreak in 2009 and a bleaching event in 2015, and had the lowest relative percentage of live coral (6 ± 2%), comprised mostly of massive Porites, with no live Acropora or Pocillopora. Our results highlight the asynchronous impact of disturbance events on eastern Red Sea coral reefs and emphasize regional differences in recovery and ecosystem state.

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Availability of data and material

The U–Th radiometric age-dates and ecological data (coral life and death assemblages) for this study are included as supplementary tables.

Code availability

The R code was written and executed within R Studio and will be provided through a request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by funding from a collaborative subaward agreement between the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and The University of Queensland (UQ) awarded to J.M.P. and C.M.D. (OSR-2018-CARF-1973-03) and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies grant to J.M.P. and others (CE140100020). We thank the crew and technicians aboard the R/V Thuwal stationed at KAUST for our first field excursion in Saudi Arabia; K. Rowe, S. Persson and A. Gusti for help in the field for both trips; A. Nguyen, Y. Feng, and F. Liu from the Radiogenic Isotope Facility (UQ); G. Xia from the Earth Science Sample Preparation Laboratory (UQ); and K. Zwiep, S. Kim, K. Gomez-Cabrera, C. Chong-Montenegro, H. Markham, and C. Sims from the Marine Palaeoecology Lab (UQ). N.M.H. was supported with a University of Queensland Research Training Scholarship. We also thank the reviewers for their contributions in reviewing this manuscript.

Funding

This research was supported by funding from a collaborative subaward agreement between the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and The University of Queensland (UQ) awarded to J.M.P. and C.M.D. (OSR-2018-CARF-1973–03) and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies grant to JMP and others (CE140100020). All applicable international, national, and institutional guidelines for sampling, care, and experimental use of organisms for this study have been followed and all necessary approvals have been obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Nicholas M. Hammerman, Alberto Rodriguez-Ramirez, Timothy L. Staples, George Roff & John M. Pandolfi

  2. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Nicholas M. Hammerman, Timothy L. Staples, George Roff & John M. Pandolfi

  3. Red Sea Research Center (RSRC) and Computational Bioscience Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia

    Thomas M. DeCarlo, Vincent Saderne, Susann Rossbach, Michelle N. Havlik & Carlos M. Duarte

  4. Radiogenic Isotope Facility, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Nicole Leonard & Jian-xin Zhao

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  1. Nicholas M. Hammerman
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Contributions

NMH, ARR, GR, and JMP conceived and designed the study. NMH led the study, data analysis, interpretation and manuscript writing with input from all authors. NMH, ARR, SR, MNH, and VFS conducted the fieldwork. NMH, ARR, NL, and JxZ performed laboratory analyses. TLS, NL, GR, and TMD helped with data manipulation, visualization, and analysis. CMD and JMP provided funding and mentorship.

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227_2021_3984_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Fig. S1 Representative quadrate photographs of modern assemblages from each region and site (Photo credit: Nicholas M. Hammerman). Fig. S2 Representative photographs of the in-growth position colonies taken for radiometric (U–Th) age-dating at each region and site (Photo credit: Nicholas M. Hammerman). Fig. S3 Photographs of massive Porites colonies sampled for radiometric (U–Th) age-dating from Thuwal, note pick = 25 cm (Photo credit: Nicholas M. Hammerman). Fig. S4 Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (nMDS) ordination of coral families a) life, and b) death assemblages from reefs sampled from four regions of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea using relative abundance data (dotted lines are 95% confidence ellipses), highlighting the differences in live and dead coral among the four regions. Each symbol represents a separate transect. Overlaid vectors are the weighted contribution of each family’s relative abundance (PDF 659 KB)

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Hammerman, N.M., Rodriguez-Ramirez, A., Staples, T.L. et al. Variable response of Red Sea coral communities to recent disturbance events along a latitudinal gradient. Mar Biol 168, 177 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03984-y

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