École pratique des hautes études, PSL Research University, UPVD, CNRS, USR 3278 CRIOBE, BP 1013, 98729, Papetoai, Moorea, French Polynesia.
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jan 31;9(1):1027. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-38228-5.
Preserving coral reef resilience is a major challenge in the Anthropocene, yet recent studies demonstrate failures of reef recovery from disturbance, globally. The wide and vigorous outer-reef system of French Polynesia presents a rare opportunity to assess ecosystem resilience to disturbances at a large-scale equivalent to the size of Europe. In this purpose, we analysed long-term data on coral community dynamics and combine the mixed-effects regression framework with a set of functional response models to evaluate coral recovery trajectories. Analyses of 14 years data across 17 reefs allowed estimating impacts of a cyclone, bleaching event and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreak, which generated divergence and asynchrony in coral community trajectory. We evaluated reef resilience by quantifying levels of exposure, degrees of vulnerability, and descriptors of recovery of coral communities in the face of disturbances. Our results show an outstanding rate of coral recovery, with a systematic return to the pre-disturbance state within only 5 to 10 years. Differences in the impacts of disturbances among reefs and in the levels of vulnerability of coral taxa to these events resulted in diverse recovery patterns. The consistent recovery of coral communities, and convergence toward pre-disturbance community structures, reveals that the processes that regulate ecosystem recovery still prevail in French Polynesia.
在人类世，保护珊瑚礁的恢复力是一个重大挑战，但最近的研究表明，全球范围内珊瑚礁从干扰中恢复的失败。法属波利尼西亚广阔而活跃的外礁系统为评估生态系统对大规模干扰（相当于欧洲大小）的恢复力提供了难得的机会。为此，我们分析了珊瑚群落动态的长期数据，并将混合效应回归框架与一系列功能响应模型相结合，以评估珊瑚的恢复轨迹。对 17 个珊瑚礁 14 年的数据进行分析，评估了飓风、白化事件和棘冠海星爆发的影响，这些事件导致珊瑚群落轨迹出现分歧和不同步。我们通过量化珊瑚群落在面对干扰时的暴露水平、脆弱性程度和恢复描述符来评估珊瑚礁的恢复力。研究结果表明，珊瑚礁的恢复速度非常快，仅需 5 至 10 年即可系统地恢复到干扰前的状态。珊瑚礁之间的干扰影响程度以及珊瑚类群对这些事件的脆弱性水平存在差异，导致了不同的恢复模式。珊瑚群落的持续恢复以及向干扰前群落结构的收敛，表明调节生态系统恢复的过程在法属波利尼西亚仍然存在。
