Geology Department, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA, United States of America.
School of Earth Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
PLoS One. 2020 Sep 30;15(9):e0239267. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239267. eCollection 2020.
Caribbean Acropora spp. corals have undergone a decline in cover since the second half of the twentieth century. Loss of these architecturally complex and fast-growing corals has resulted in significant, cascading changes to the character, diversity, and available eco-spaces of Caribbean reefs. Few thriving Acropora spp. populations exist today in the Caribbean and western North Atlantic seas, and our limited ability to access data from reefs assessed via long-term monitoring efforts means that reef scientists are challenged to determine resilience and longevity of existing Acropora spp. reefs. Here we used multiple dating methods to measure reef longevity and determine whether Coral Gardens Reef, Belize, is a refuge for Acropora cervicornis against the backdrop of wider Caribbean decline. We used a new genetic-aging technique to identify sample sites, and radiocarbon and high-precision uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating techniques to test whether one of the largest populations of extant A. cervicornis in the western Caribbean is newly established after the 1980s, or represents a longer-lived, stable population. We did so with respect for ethical sampling of a threatened species. Our data show corals ranging in age from 1910 (14C) or 1915 (230Th) to at least November 2019. While we cannot exclude the possibility of short gaps in the residence of A. cervicornis earlier in the record, the data show consistent and sustained living coral throughout the 1980s and up to at least 2019. We suggest that Coral Gardens has served as a refuge for A. cervicornis and that identifying other, similar sites may be critical to efforts to grow, preserve, conserve, and seed besieged Caribbean reefs.
加勒比海的鹿角珊瑚属珊瑚自 20 世纪下半叶以来，其覆盖率一直在下降。这些结构复杂、生长迅速的珊瑚的消失，导致加勒比海珊瑚礁的特征、多样性和可用生态空间发生了重大的连锁变化。如今，在加勒比海和北大西洋西部海域，很少有繁荣的鹿角珊瑚属种群存在，而我们获取长期监测评估的珊瑚礁数据的能力有限，这意味着珊瑚礁科学家难以确定现有的鹿角珊瑚礁的恢复力和寿命。在这里，我们使用多种测年方法来测量珊瑚礁的寿命，并确定伯利兹的珊瑚花园礁是否是抵御加勒比海更广泛衰退的尖峰鹿角珊瑚的避难所。我们使用一种新的遗传老化技术来识别样本地点，并使用放射性碳和高精度铀-钍（U-Th）测年技术来测试加勒比海西部最大的现存尖峰鹿角珊瑚种群之一是否是在 20 世纪 80 年代之后新建立的，还是代表了一个寿命更长、更稳定的种群。我们在尊重受威胁物种伦理取样的前提下进行了研究。我们的数据显示，珊瑚的年龄从 1910 年（放射性碳）或 1915 年（230Th）到至少 2019 年 11 月不等。虽然我们不能排除在记录早期尖峰鹿角珊瑚短暂停留的可能性，但数据显示，在整个 20 世纪 80 年代，甚至至少到 2019 年，都有持续存在的活珊瑚。我们认为珊瑚花园礁一直是尖峰鹿角珊瑚的避难所，而确定其他类似的地点可能对努力培育、保护、保存和播种受围攻的加勒比海珊瑚礁至关重要。
