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Spatial and temporal patterns in the coral assemblage at Clipperton Atoll: a sentinel reef in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

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Abstract

Isolated coral reef habitats are unique systems to study the natural dynamics of coral traits and their natural acclimatization, adaptation, and recovery from global-scale stressors such as thermally induced bleaching events. This study evaluates the spatial and temporal changes in coral community attributes (diversity, live cover, and coral assemblage structure) over 14 years (2005–2019) at Clipperton, an extremely remote Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) atoll. The atoll exhibited overall high coral cover (~ 50–60%) dominated by massive species (Porites spp.), yet we observed large variation (44–56%) in coral community attributes among survey years (2005, 2016, 2019) with depth explaining most of the variation. Live coral cover increased in 2019 after a severe thermal stress event (El Niño, 2015–2016) and many tropical cyclones, which also caused a shift in assemblage structure from branching Pocillopora to massive Porites in the shallower reef zones, resulting in a less well-defined depth gradient. These changes in coral assemblage structure may have long-term effects on the configuration of the physical reef framework of the well-conserved coral reef ecosystems at Clipperton and consequently may alter the ecological functionality of one of the most important biogeographic stepping stones in the central Pacific and ETP regions.

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Acknowledgements

The present work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) postdoctoral fellowship (CVU 410380) to JJATL. We thank the government of France, The Embassy of France in Mexico, Ministère Des Outre-Mer, the Mexican government, Centro de Investigación de la Isla Observatorio del Medio Ambiente (CRIOBE USR3278 EPHE-CNRS-UPVD), Instituto Nacional de Pesca y Acuacultura (INAPESCA), and the oceanographic research vessel Jorge Carranza Fraser from INAPESCA and also thank the Haut Commissariat de la République en Polynésie française for permission to perform this research at Clipperton Atoll (CITES permit no. FR1998700218-E). We wish to thank National Geographic Pristine Seas and their funders for the 2016 expedition. Finally, we thank to James Herlan and two anonymous reviewers, which improved the manuscript significantly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Esclerocronología de Corales Arrecifales, Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Prol. Av. Niños Héroes S/N, 77580, Puerto Morelos, Q. Roo, Mexico

    J. J. Adolfo Tortolero-Langarica & Juan P. Carricart-Ganivet

  2. Tecnológico Nacional de México / IT Bahía de Banderas, 63734, Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, Mexico

    J. J. Adolfo Tortolero-Langarica

  3. CRIOBE USR3278, EPHE-CNRS-UPVD, PSL Research University, BP1013 98729, Papetoai, French Polynesia

    Eric Clua

  4. Laboratoire Excellence Corail, CRIOBE, 98729, Moorea, French Polynesia

    Eric Clua

  5. Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular, Microbiología y Taxonomía (LEMITAX), Departamento de Ecología, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad de Guadalajara, Camino Ramón Padilla Sánchez No. 2100, 45110, Nextipac, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico

    Fabián A. Rodríguez-Zaragoza

  6. Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Jennifer E. Caselle

  7. Laboratorio de Ecología Marina, Centro de Investigaciones Costeras, Centro Universitario de La Costa, Universidad de Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, 48280, Jalisco, Mexico

    Alma P. Rodríguez-Troncoso & Amílcar L. Cupul-Magaña

  8. ENTROPIE, IRD, Université de La Réunion, Université de La Nouvelle-Calédonie, IFREMER, CNRS, Perpignan, France

    Mehdi Adjeroud

  9. Pristine Seas, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, USA

    Alan M. Friedlander

  10. Hawaiʿi Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaiʿi, Kāneʻohe, Hawaiʿi, USA

    Alan M. Friedlander

  11. Centre d’ Estudis Avançats de Blanes-CSIC, Blanes, Girona, Spain

    Enric Ballesteros

  12. US National Park Service, National Park of America Samoa, Pago Pago, AS, USA

    Eric K. Brown

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  1. J. J. Adolfo Tortolero-Langarica
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Tortolero-Langarica, J.J.A., Clua, E., Rodríguez-Zaragoza, F.A. et al. Spatial and temporal patterns in the coral assemblage at Clipperton Atoll: a sentinel reef in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Coral Reefs 41, 1405–1415 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-022-02290-3

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