Skip to main content

Three lines of evidence to link outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns seastar Acanthaster planci to the release of larval food limitation

Coral Reefs volume 29, pages 593–605 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Population outbreaks of the coral-eating crown-of-thorns seastar, Acanthaster planci, continue to kill more coral on Indo-Pacific coral reefs than other disturbances, but the causes of these outbreaks have not been resolved. In this study, we combine (1) results from laboratory experiments where larvae were reared on natural phytoplankton, (2) large-scale and long-term field data of river floods, chlorophyll concentrations and A. planci outbreaks on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), and (3) results from A. planci—coral population model simulations that investigated the relationship between the frequency of outbreaks and larval food availability. The experiments show that the odds of A. planci larvae completing development increases ~8-fold with every doubling of chlorophyll concentrations up to 3 μg l−1. Field data and the population model show that river floods and regional differences in phytoplankton availability are strongly related to spatial and temporal patterns in A. planci outbreaks on the GBR. The model also shows that, given plausible historic increases in river nutrient loads over the last 200 years, the frequency of A. planci outbreaks on the GBR has likely increased from one in 50–80 years to one every 15 years, and that current coral cover of reefs in the central GBR may be 30–40% of its potential value. This study adds new and strong empirical support to the hypothesis that primary A. planci outbreaks are predominantly controlled by phytoplankton availability.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

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

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

References

  • Allison GW (1994) Effects of temporary starvation on larvae of the sea star Asterina miniata. Mar Biol 118:255–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babcock BC, Mundy CN (1992) Reproductive biology, spawning and field fertilisation rates of Acanthaster planci. Austr J Mar Freshw Res 43:525–534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birkeland C (1982) Terrestrial runoff as a cause of outbreaks of Acanthaster planci (Echinodermata: Asteroidea). Mar Biol 69:175–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birkeland C, Lucas JS (1990) Acanthaster planci: major management problem of coral reefs. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Brodie J, Fabricius K, De’ath G, Okaji K (2005) Are increased nutrient inputs responsible for more outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish? An appraisal of the evidence. Mar Pollut Bull 51:266–278

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brodie J, De’ath G, Devlin M, Furnas M, Wright M (2007) Spatial and temporal patterns of near-surface chlorophyll a in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Mar Freshw Res 58:342–353

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bruno J, Selig E (2007) Regional decline of coral cover in the Indo-Pacific: timing, extent, and subregional comparisons. PLoS ONE 2:e711. doi:710.1371/journal.pone.0000711

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Charpy L, Blanchot J (1999) Picophytoplankton biomass, community structure and productivity in the Great Astrolabe Lagoon, Fiji. Coral Reefs 18:255–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosbie ND, Furnas MJ (2001) Abundance, distribution and flow-cytometric characterization of picophytoprokaryote populations in central (17 degree S) and southern (20 degree S) shelf waters of the Great Barrier Reef. J Plankton Res 23:809–828

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De’ath G, Fabricius KE (2010) Water quality as a regional driver of coral biodiversity and macroalgae on the Great Barrier Reef. Ecol Appl (in press)

  • Devlin MJ, Brodie J (2005) Terrestrial discharge into the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon: nutrient behavior in coastal waters. Mar Pollut Bull 51:9–21

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dight IJ, Bode L, James MK (1990) Modelling the larval dispersal of Acanthaster planci. 1. Large scale hydrodynamics, Cairns Section, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Coral Reefs 9:115–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dulvy N, Freckleton R, Polunin N (2004) Coral reef cascades and the indirect effects of predator removal by exploitation. Ecol Lett 7:410–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fabricius KE, De’ath G (2004) Identifying ecological change and its causes: a case study on coral reefs. Ecol Appl 14:1448–1465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furnas MJ (2003) Catchments and corals: terrestrial runoff to the Great Barrier Reef. Australian Institute of Marine Science, CRC Reef. Townsville, Australia

  • Guillard RRL (1975) Culture of phytoplankton for feeding marine invertebrates. In: Smith WL, Chanley MH (eds) Culture of marine invertebrate animals. Plenum Press, New York, pp 26–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Haynes D, Brodie J, Waterhouse J, Bainbridge Z, Bass D, Hart B (2007) Assessment of the water quality and ecosystem health of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia): conceptual models. Environ Manage 40:993–1003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • James MK, Armsworth PR, Mason LB, Bode L (2002) The structure of reef fish metapopulations: modelling larval dispersal and retention patterns. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 269:2079–2086

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keesing JK, Wiedermeyer WL, Okaji K, Halford AR, Hall KC, Cartwright CM (1996) Mortality rates of juvenile starfish Acanthaster planci and Nardoa spp. measured on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and in Okinawa, Japan. Oceanol Acta 19:441–448

    Google Scholar 

  • King B, McAllister F, Wolanski E, Done T, Spagnol S (2001) River plume dynamics in the central Great Barrier Reef. In: Wolanski E (ed) Oceanographic processes of coral reefs: physical and biological links in the Great Barrier Reef. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 145–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Lourey MJ, Ryan DAJ, Miller IR (2000) Rates of decline and recovery of coral cover on reefs impacted by, recovering from and unaffected by crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci: a regional perspective of the Great Barrier Reef. Mar Ecol Progr Ser 196:179–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas JS (1973) Reproductive and larval biology and Acanthaster planci (L.) in Great Barrier Reef. Micronesica 9:197–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas JS (1982) Quantitative studies of feeding and nutrition during larval development of the coral reef asteroid Acanthaster planci (L.). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 65:173–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luick JL, Mason L, Hardy T, Furnas MJ (2007) Circulation in the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon using numerical tracers and in situ data. Cont Shelf Res 27:757–778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCallum HI (1987) Predator regulation of Acanthaster planci. J Theor Biol 127:207–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKergow L, Prosser I, Hughes A, Brodie J (2005) Sources of sediment to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Mar Pollut Bull 51:200–211

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller I (2002) Historical patterns and current trends in the broadscale distribution of crown-of-thorns starfish in the northern and central sections of the Great Barrier Reef. In: Proceedings of the 10th international Coral Reef Symposium, pp 1273–1279

  • Moran PJ (1986) The Acanthaster phenomenon. Oceanogr Mar Biol Ann Rev 24:379–480

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran PJ, De’ath G, Baker VJ, Bass DK, Christie CA, Miller IR, Miller-Smith BA, Thompson AA (1992) Pattern of outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci (L.)) along the Great Barrier Reef since 1996. Aust J Mar Freshw Res 42:555–568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okaji K (1996) Feeding ecology in the early life stages of the crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci (L.). PhD Thesis, James Cook University, p 121

  • Okaji K, Ayukai T, Lucas JS (1997) Selective feeding by larvae of the crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci (L.). Coral Reefs 16:47–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pratchett MS (2005) Dynamics of an outbreak population of Acanthaster planci at Lizard Island, northern Great Barrier Reef (1995–1999). Coral Reefs 24:453–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2009) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Scandol JP (1993) CotSim—scientific visualisation and gaming-simulation for the Acanthaster phenomenon. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville (Australia)

    Google Scholar 

  • Scandol JP (1999) CotSim—an interactive Acanthaster planci metapopulation model for the central Great Barrier Reef. Mar Models Online 1:1–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Seymour RM, Bradbury RH (1999) Lengthening reef recovery times from crown-of-thorns outbreaks signal systemic degradation of the Great Barrier Reef. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 176:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweatman HPA (1995) A field study of fish predation on juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish. Coral Reefs 14:47–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sweatman H (2008) No-take reserves protect coral reefs from predatory starfish. Curr Biol 18:R598–R599

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sweatman H, Cheal A, Coleman G, Delean S, Fitzpatrick B, Miller I, Ninio R, Osborne K, Page C, Thompson A (2001) Long-term monitoring of the Great Barrier Reef: status report number 5. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville 106 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Sweatman H, Cheal A, Coleman N, Emslie M, Johns K, Jonker M, Miller I, Osborne K (2008) Long-term monitoring of the Great Barrier Reef. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville 379 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Uthicke S, Schaffelke B, Byrne M (2009) A boom–bust phylum? Ecological and evolutionary consequences of density variations in echinoderms. Ecol Monogr 79:3–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolanski E, De’ath G (2005) Predicting the impact of present and future human land-use on the Great Barrier Reef. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 64:504–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the GBR Long-Term Chlorophyll Monitoring Program for the chlorophyll data, to the AIMS Long-Term Monitoring Program for coral cover and A. planci field distribution data, to J. Scandol for compilation of the A. planci life history data, and to M. Slivkoff for the processing of the Modis satellite image. KO conducted the laboratory experiments, and GD developed the coral—A. planci simulation model. We gratefully acknowledge support for the experimental study by T. Ayukai, J. Lucas and J. Keesing. We thank J. Caley, B. Schaffelke, S. Uthicke and H. Sweatman for constructive comments on earlier versions of the manuscript, and J. Brodie, K. Day and E. Wolanski for sharing ideas. The study was funded by the Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, with the experimental study being funded by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and James Cook University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB No. 3, Townsville MC, QLD, 4810, Australia

    K. E. Fabricius & G. De’ath

  2. Coralquest Inc., Asahicho 1-34-10, Atsugi, Kanagawa, 243-0014, Japan

    K. Okaji

Authors
  1. K. E. Fabricius
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. K. Okaji
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. G. De’ath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to K. E. Fabricius.

Additional information

Communicated by Biology Editor Dr. Andrew Baird

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fabricius, K.E., Okaji, K. & De’ath, G. Three lines of evidence to link outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns seastar Acanthaster planci to the release of larval food limitation. Coral Reefs 29, 593–605 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-010-0628-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-010-0628-z

Keywords

  • Crown-of-thorns starfish
  • Seastar
  • Trophic limitation
  • Great Barrier Reef
  • Acanthaster planci
  • Eutrophication
  • Phytoplankton
  • Chlorophyll