Flattening of Caribbean coral reefs: region-wide declines in architectural complexity

Coral reefs are rich in biodiversity, in large part because their highly complex architecture provides shelter and resources for a wide range of organisms. Recent rapid declines in hard coral cover have occurred across the Caribbean region, but the concomitant consequences for reef architecture have not been quantified on a large scale to date. We provide, to our knowledge, the first region-wide analysis of changes in reef architectural complexity, using nearly 500 surveys across 200 reefs, between 1969 and 2008. The architectural complexity of Caribbean reefs has declined nonlinearly with the near disappearance of the most complex reefs over the last 40 years. The flattening of Caribbean reefs was apparent by…

• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Award: NE/C004442/1
• CN
  Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología
• NO
  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• NS
  Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Award: NE/C004442/1