Johnson Kenneth G, Jackson Jeremy B C, Budd Ann F
Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK.
Science. 2008 Mar 14;319(5869):1521-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1152197.
The relationship between natural variations in coral species diversity, reef development, and ecosystem function on coral reefs is poorly understood. Recent coral diversity varies 10-fold among geographic regions, but rates of reef growth are broadly similar, suggesting that diversity is unimportant for reef development. Differences in diversity may reflect regional differences in long-term biotic history in addition to environmental conditions. Using a combination of new and published fossil and stratigraphic data, we compared changes in coral diversity and reef development within the tropical western Atlantic over the past 28 million years. Reef development was unrelated to coral diversity, and the largest reef tracts formed after extinction had reduced diversity by 50%. High diversity is thus not essential for the growth and persistence of coral reefs.
珊瑚礁上珊瑚物种多样性的自然变化、珊瑚礁发育和生态系统功能之间的关系，目前还知之甚少。近期，珊瑚多样性在不同地理区域间相差10倍，但珊瑚礁的生长速率大致相似，这表明多样性对珊瑚礁发育并不重要。多样性的差异除了反映环境条件外，还可能反映长期生物历史的区域差异。我们结合新的和已发表的化石及地层数据，比较了过去2800万年中热带西大西洋珊瑚多样性和珊瑚礁发育的变化。珊瑚礁发育与珊瑚多样性无关，在物种灭绝后形成的最大珊瑚礁区域，其多样性降低了50%。因此，高多样性对于珊瑚礁的生长和存续并非必不可少。
