Biogeography and change among regional coral communities across the Western Indian Ocean.

Coral reefs are biodiverse ecosystems structured by abiotic and biotic factors operating across many spatial scales. Regional-scale interactions between climate change, biogeography and fisheries management remain poorly understood. Here, we evaluated large-scale patterns of coral communities in the western Indian Ocean after a major coral bleaching event in 1998.

Climate change impacts on coral reefs: synergies with local effects, possibilities for acclimation, and management implications.

Most reviews concerning the impact of climate change on coral reefs discuss independent effects of warming or ocean acidification. However, the interactions between these, and between these and direct local stressors are less well addressed. This review underlines that coral bleaching, acidification, and diseases are expected to interact synergistically, and will negatively influence survival, growth, reproduction, larval development, settlement, and post-settlement development of corals.

Global gradients of coral exposure to environmental stresses and implications for local management.

Background: The decline of coral reefs globally underscores the need for a spatial assessment of their exposure to multiple environmental stressors to estimate vulnerability and evaluate potential counter-measures.

Methodology/principal Findings: This study combined global spatial gradients of coral exposure to radiation stress factors (temperature, UV light and doldrums), stress-reinforcing factors (sedimentation and eutrophication), and stress-reducing factors (temperature variability and tidal amplitude) to produce a global map of coral exposure and identify areas where exposure depends on factors that can be locally managed. A systems analytical approach was used to define interactions between radiation stress variables, stress reinforcing variables and stress reducing variables.

SEASONAL CHANGES IN SIZE STRUCTURE OF SARGASSUM AND TURBINARIA POPULATIONS (PHAEOPHYCEAE) ON TROPICAL REEF FLATS IN THE SOUTHERN RED SEA(1).

Seasonal variation in density, thallus length and biomass, population size structure, and allometric length-biomass relationships was investigated in populations of Sargassum ilicifolium (Turner) C. Agardh, Sargassum subrepandum (Forssk.) C.

SEASONAL MODULE DYNAMICS IN SARGASSUM SUBREPANDUM (FUCALES, PHAEOPHYTA)(1).

Module dynamics of the fucoid alga SARGASSUM SUBREPANDUM (Forssk.) C. Agardh was studied in the southern Red Sea.