Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions, College of Science and Engineering and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia.
Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions, College of Science and Engineering and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia.
Mar Environ Res. 2022 Jun;178:105667. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2022.105667. Epub 2022 May 26.
Coral reef decline has accelerated in the last two decades resulting in substantial research into the phenomenon of 'phase shifts' or 'regime shifts'. However, the conclusions drawn from this research have been varied. Some of this variability may stem from methodological approaches, although the extent to which these factors have shaped our understanding remain largely unexplored. To examine this, we conducted a systematic review of the literature. In doing so, we revealed marked variability in the approaches used for studying phase shifts. Notably, very few studies clearly defined what they meant by phase shifts. Therefore, we developed a clarified definition of phase shifts, which specifically defined persistence and dominance. The applicability of this definition was tested on multi-decadal benthic composition data on the Great Barrier Reef. The number of shifts depended critically on the definition selected, suggesting that this may be a primary reason underpinning the variability in past results.
在过去的二十年中，珊瑚礁的衰退加速了，这导致了大量关于“相移”或“状态转移”现象的研究。然而，从这项研究中得出的结论却各不相同。这种变异性可能部分源于方法学方法，尽管这些因素在多大程度上影响了我们的理解在很大程度上仍未得到探索。为了研究这一点，我们对文献进行了系统的回顾。在这样做的过程中，我们发现研究相移时所使用的方法存在明显的差异。值得注意的是，很少有研究清楚地定义了他们所说的相移的含义。因此，我们提出了一个相移的明确定义，该定义特别定义了持久性和主导地位。在大堡礁的几十年的底栖组成数据上测试了这个定义的适用性。转变的数量取决于所选定义的严格程度，这表明这可能是过去结果变异性的主要原因。
