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Carbonate production of an emergent reef platform, Warraber Island, Torres Strait, Australia

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Abstract

Complex relationships exist between tropical reef ecology, carbonate (CaCO3) production and carbonate sinks. This paper investigated census-based techniques for determining the distribution and carbonate production of reef organisms on an emergent platform in central Torres Strait, Australia, and compared the contemporary budget with geological findings to infer shifts in reef productivity over the late Holocene. Results indicate that contemporary carbonate production varies by several orders of magnitude between and within the different reef-flat sub-environments depending on cover type and extent. Average estimated reef-flat production was 1.66 ± 1.78 kg m−2 year−1 (mean ± SD) although only 23% of the area was covered by carbonate producers. Collectively, these organisms produce 17,399 ± 18,618 t CaCO3 year−1, with production dominated by coral (73%) and subordinate contributions by encrusting coralline algae (18%) articulated coralline algae, molluscs, foraminifera and Halimeda (<4%). Comparisons between the production of these organisms across the different reef-flat zones, surface sediment composition and accumulation rates calculated from cores indicate that it is necessary to understand the spatial distribution, density and production of each major organism when considering the types and amounts of carbonate available for storage in the various reef carbonate sinks. These findings raise questions as to the reliability of using modal production rates in global models independent of ecosystem investigation, in particular, indicating that current models may overestimate reef productivity in emergent settings.

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Acknowledgments

Research was supported by an Australian Research Council Grant to CD Woodroffe, PJ Cowell, and RF McLean and University of New South Wales ADFA Postgraduate Research Scholarship to DEH. We thank RF McLean for conceptual advice and field assistance, B Billy, B Samosorn, RW Brander, A Coutts-Smith and GA Stewart for field assistance, W Anderson for statistical advice, T Billy, C Tamu and the people of Warraber Island and Beverly and Bill Stephens for their help and hospitality, A Vecsei for supplying raw data from Vecsei (2001), and P Bealing and M Brosnan for assistance with Figs. 1 and 3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8020, New Zealand

    Deirdre E. Hart

  2. School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

    Paul S. Kench

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  1. Deirdre E. Hart
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  2. Paul S. Kench
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Correspondence to Deirdre E. Hart.

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Communicated by Geology Editor P.K. Swart.

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Hart, D.E., Kench, P.S. Carbonate production of an emergent reef platform, Warraber Island, Torres Strait, Australia. Coral Reefs 26, 53–68 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-006-0168-8

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