ORCID Profile
0000-0002-5005-6227
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In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Ecology | Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) | Population Ecology | Ecological Impacts of Climate Change | Other Biological Sciences | Global Change Biology | Marine And Estuarine Ecology (Incl. Marine Ichthyology) | Community Ecology | Physical Oceanography
Climate change | Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Living resources (incl. impacts of fishing on non-target species) | Natural Hazards in Marine Environments | Climate Change Models | Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity | Global climate change adaptation measures | Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments |
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 10-08-2011
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-06-2013
DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS2986
Abstract: Near-shore coral reef systems are experiencing increased sediment supply due to conversion of forests to other land uses. Counteracting increased sediment loads requires an understanding of the relationship between forest cover and sediment supply, and how this relationship might change in the future. Here we study this relationship by simulating river flow and sediment supply in four watersheds that are adjacent to Madagascar’s major coral reef ecosystems for a range of future climate change projections and land-use change scenarios. We show that by 2090, all four watersheds are predicted to experience temperature increases and/or precipitation declines that, when combined, result in decreases in river flow and sediment load. However, these climate change-driven declines are outweighed by the impact of deforestation. Consequently, our analyses suggest that regional land-use management is more important than mediating climate change for influencing sedimentation of Malagasy coral reefs.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-11-2019
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.13025
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 15-03-2012
DOI: 10.1242/JEB.061002
Abstract: Coral reefs exhibit marked spatial and temporal variability, and coral reef organisms exhibit trade-offs in functional traits that influence demographic performance under different combinations of abiotic environmental conditions. In many systems, trait trade-offs are modelled using an energy and/or nutrient allocation framework. However, on coral reefs, differences in biomechanical vulnerability have major demographic implications, and indeed are believed to play an essential role in mediating species coexistence because highly competitive growth forms are vulnerable to physical dislodgment events that occur with high frequency (e.g. annual summer storms). Therefore, an integrated energy allocation and biomechanics framework is required to understand the effect of physical environmental gradients on species’ demographic performance. However, on coral reefs, as in most ecosystems, the effects of environmental conditions on organisms are measured in different currencies (e.g. lipid accumulation, survival and number of gametes), and thus the relative contributions of these effects to overall capacity for population growth are not readily apparent. A comprehensive assessment of links between the environment and the organism, including those mediated by biomechanical processes, must convert environmental effects on in idual-level performance (e.g. survival, growth and reproduction) into a common currency that is relevant to the capacity to contribute to population growth. We outline such an approach by considering the population-level performance of scleractinian reef corals over a hydrodynamic gradient, with a focus on the integrating the biomechanical determinants of size-dependent coral colony dislodgment as a function of flow, with the effects of flow on photosynthetic energy acquisition and respiration.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 7
DOI: 10.1016/J.JINSPHYS.2012.10.016
Abstract: Body colours can result in different internal body temperatures, but evidence for the biological significance of colour-induced temperature differences is inconsistent. We investigated the relationship between body colour and temperature in a model insect species that rapidly changes colour. We used an empirical approach and constructed a heat budget model to quantify whether a colour change from black to turquoise has a role in thermoregulation for the chameleon grasshopper (Kosciuscola tristis). Our study shows that colour change in K. tristis provides relatively small temperature differences that vary greatly with wind speed (0.55 °C at ms(-1) to 0.05 °C at 10 ms(-1)). The biological significance of this difference is unclear and we discuss the requirement for more studies that directly test hypotheses regarding the fitness effects of colour in manipulating body temperature.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-02-2020
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 17-09-2018
DOI: 10.3354/MEPS12732
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-04-2016
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12459
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 15-10-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.10.14.464352
Abstract: Niche construction is the process through which organisms modify environmental states in ways favourable to their own fitness. Here, we test experimentally whether scleractinian corals can be considered niche constructors. In particular, we demonstrate a positive feedback involved in corals building structures which facilitate recruitment. Coral larval recruitment is a key process for coral reef persistence. Larvae require low flow conditions to settle from the plankton, and hence the presence of colony structures that can break the flow is expected to facilitate coral recruitment. Here, we show an increase in settler presence on artificial tiles deployed in the field along a gradient of coral-built structural complexity. Structural complexity had a positive effect on settlement, with an increase of 15,71% of settler presence probability along the range of structural complexity considered. This result provides evidence that coral built structural complexity creates conditions that facilitate coral settlement, while demonstrating that corals meet the criteria for ecological niche construction.
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 26-04-2018
DOI: 10.3354/MEPS12537
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-12-2020
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14911
Abstract: Rapid intensification of environmental disturbances has sparked widespread decline and compositional shifts in foundation species in ecosystems worldwide. Now, an emergent challenge is to understand the consequences of shifts and losses in such habitat‐forming species for associated communities and ecosystem processes. Recently, consecutive coral bleaching events shifted the morphological makeup of habitat‐forming coral assemblages on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Considering the disparity of coral morphological growth forms in shelter provision for reef fishes, we investigated how shifts in the morphological structure of coral assemblages affect the abundance of juvenile and adult reef fishes. We used a temporal dataset from shallow reefs in the northern GBR to estimate coral convexity (a fine‐scale quantitative morphological trait) and two widely used coral habitat descriptors (coral cover and reef rugosity) for disentangling the effects of coral morphology on reef fish assemblages. Changes in coral convexity, rather than live coral cover or reef rugosity, disproportionately affected juvenile reef fishes when compared to adults, and explained more than 20% of juvenile decline. The magnitude of this effect varied by fish body size with juveniles of small‐bodied species showing higher vulnerability to changes in coral morphology. Our findings suggest that continued large‐scale shifts in the relative abundance of morphological groups within coral assemblages are likely to affect population replenishment and dynamics of future reef fish communities. The different responses of juvenile and adult fishes according to habitat descriptors indicate that focusing on coarse‐scale metrics alone may mask fine‐scale ecological responses that are key to understand ecosystem functioning and resilience. Nonetheless, quantifying coral morphological traits may contribute to forecasting the structure of reef fish communities on novel reef ecosystems shaped by climate change.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 09-2017
DOI: 10.1086/692758
Abstract: Simulations and experiments have shown that species coexistence can be maintained via nontransitive competition, of which a simple case is the rock-paper-scissors game. Reef-building corals exemplify high bio ersity competing for a few limiting resources via several mechanisms. Thus, corals represent fertile ground for exploring competition and nontransitivity. This article aimed to test hypotheses about the effects of species-level traits on competitive outcomes, specifically, that more upright growth, larger corallites, smaller ranges, and difference in commonness co-occur with competitive superiority. Further aims were to test whether closely related species show less predictable competitive outcomes and greater nontransitivity and to examine the level of nontransitivity among a large number of species. These goals were addressed by fitting a mixed-effects model to outcomes of 2,322 interspecific interactions. Among species-level traits, corallite width had the greatest impact on outcome, followed by geographical range size, growth form, and the typical commonness of conspecifics in assemblages. These fixed effects had smaller estimated impacts than a random effect associated with species pair, suggesting a primary role for idiosyncratic species-pair or other factors. Closely related species had more variable, less predictable interaction outcomes. Nearly a quarter of three-way species relations were nontransitive. The observed degree of competitive nontransitivity and extent of idiosyncratic species-pair effects together provide an empirical baseline for further investigations of mechanisms of species coexistence.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-03-2015
DOI: 10.1111/ECOG.01437
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-06-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-022-01364-9
Abstract: Trait databases have become important resources for large-scale comparative studies in ecology and evolution. Here we introduce the AnimalTraits database, a curated database of body mass, metabolic rate and brain size, in standardised units, for terrestrial animals. The database has broad taxonomic breadth, including tetrapods, arthropods, molluscs and annelids from almost 2000 species and 1000 genera. All data recorded in the database are sourced from their original empirical publication, and the original metrics and measurements are included with each record. This allows for subsequent data transformations as required. We have included rich metadata to allow users to filter the dataset. The additional R scripts we provide will assist researchers with aggregating standardised observations into species-level trait values. Our goals are to provide this resource without restrictions, to keep the AnimalTraits database current, and to grow the number of relevant traits in the future.
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 24-09-2013
Abstract: Marine organisms disperse mostly by ocean currents as larval propagules. Therefore, it is commonly thought that the duration of the larval stage is the fundamental determinant of geographic range size. Using a global compilation of reef fish traits, we test an alternative hypothesis: adult traits associated with population establishment and persistence in novel areas are better predictors of geographic range size than larval traits. We conclude that colonization success is as primary determinant of successful range extension and of geographic range size among tropical reef fishes.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-03-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-03-2023
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.4017
Abstract: Scleractinian corals are colonial animals with a range of life‐history strategies, making up erse species assemblages that define coral reefs. We tagged and tracked ~30 colonies from each of 11 species during seven trips spanning 6 years (2009–2015) to measure their vital rates and competitive interactions on the reef crest at Trimodal Reef, Lizard Island, Australia. Pairs of species were chosen from five growth forms in which one species of the pair was locally rare (R) and the other common (C). The s led growth forms were massive ( Goniastrea pectinata [R] and G. retiformis [C]), digitate ( Acropora humilis [R] and A. cf. digitifera [C]), corymbose ( A. millepora [R] and A. nasuta [C]), tabular ( A. cytherea [R] and A. hyacinthus [C]) and arborescent ( A. robusta [R] and A. intermedia [C]). An extra corymbose species with intermediate abundance, A. spathulata was included when it became apparent that A. millepora was too rare on the reef crest, making the 11 species in total. The tagged colonies were visited each year in the weeks prior to spawning. During visits, two or more observers each took two or three photographs of each tagged colony from directly above and on the horizontal plane with a scale plate to track planar area. Dead or missing colonies were recorded and new colonies tagged to maintain ~30 colonies per species throughout the 6 years of the study. In addition to tracking tagged corals, 30 fragments were collected from neighboring untagged colonies of each species for counting numbers of eggs per polyp (fecundity) and fragments of untagged colonies were brought into the laboratory where spawned eggs were collected for biomass and energy measurements. We also conducted surveys at the study site to generate size structure data for each species in several of the years. Each tagged colony photograph was digitized by at least two people. Therefore, we could examine sources of error in planar area for both photographers and outliners. Competitive interactions were recorded for a subset of species by measuring the margins of tagged colony outlines interacting with neighboring corals. The study was abruptly ended by Tropical Cyclone Nathan (Category 4) that killed all but nine of the more than 300 tagged colonies in early 2015. Nonetheless, these data will be of use to other researchers interested in coral demography and coexistence, functional ecology, and parametrizing population, community, and ecosystem models. The data set is not copyright restricted, and users should cite this paper when using the data.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2016
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.1588
Abstract: Understanding species differences in demographic strategies is a fundamental goal of ecology. In scleractinian corals, colony morphology is tightly linked with many demographic traits, such as size-specific growth and morality. Here we test how well morphology predicts the colony size-fecundity relationship in eight species of broadcast-spawning corals. Variation in colony fecundity is greater among morphologies than between species with a similar morphology, demonstrating that colony morphology can be used as a quantitative proxy for demographic strategies. Additionally, we examine the relationship between size-specific colony fecundity and mechanical vulnerability (i.e., vulnerability to colony dislodgment). Interestingly, the relationship between size-specific fecundity and mechanical vulnerability varied among morphologies. For tabular species, the most fecund colonies are the most mechanically vulnerable, while the opposite is true for massive species. For corymbose and digitate colonies, mechanical vulnerability remains relatively constant as fecundity increases. These results reveal strong differences in the demographic tradeoffs among species of different morphologies. Using colony morphology as a quantitative proxy for demographic strategies can help predict coral community dynamics and responses to anthropogenic change.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 21-10-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.10.19.464984
Abstract: The process of coral recruitment is crucial to the functioning of coral reef ecosystems, as well as recovery of coral assemblages following disturbances. Fishes can be key mediators of this process by removing benthic competitors like algae, but their foraging impacts are capable of being facilitative or harmful to coral recruits depending on species traits. Reef fish assemblages are highly erse in foraging strategies and the relationship between this ersity with coral settlement and recruitment success remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate how foraging trait ersity of reef fish assemblages covaries with coral settlement and recruitment success across multiple sites at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef. Using a multi-model inference approach incorporating six metrics of fish assemblage foraging ersity (foraging rates, trait richness, trait evenness, trait ergence, herbivore abundance, and sessile invertivore abundance), we found that herbivore abundance was positively related to both coral settlement and recruitment success. However, the correlation with herbivore abundance was not as strong in comparison with foraging trait ersity metrics. Coral settlement and recruitment exhibited a negative relationship with foraging trait ersity, especially with trait ergence and richness in settlement. Our findings provide further evidence that fish play a role in making benthic habitats more conducive for coral settlement and recruitment. Because of their ability to shape the reef benthos, the variation of fish bio ersity is likely to contribute to spatially uneven patterns of coral recruitment and reef recovery.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-08-2019
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 04-11-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.11.03.467181
Abstract: Humans have long sought to restore species, but little attention has been directed at how to best select a subset of foundation species for maintaining rich assemblages that support ecosystems, like coral reefs and rainforests that are increasingly threatened by environmental change. We propose a two-part hedging approach that selects optimized sets of species for restoration. The first part acknowledges that bio ersity supports ecosystem functions and services, and so it takes precaution against loss by ensuring an even spread of phenotypic traits. The second part maximizes species and ecosystem persistence by weighting species based on characteristics that are known to improve ecological persistence—e.g., abundance, species range and tolerance to environmental change. Using existing phenotypic trait and ecological characteristic data for reef building corals, we identified sets of ecologically persistent species by examining marginal returns in occupancy of phenotypic trait space. We compared optimal sets of species with those from the world’s southern-most coral reef which naturally harbors low coral ersity to show these occupy much of the trait space. Comparison with an existing coral restoration program indicated that current corals used for restoration only cover part of the desired trait space and may be improved by including species with different traits. Synthesis and applications . While there are many possible criteria for selecting species for restoration, the approach proposed here addresses the need to insure against unpredictable losses of ecosystem services by focusing on a wide range of phenotypic traits and ecological characteristics. Furthermore, the flexibility of the approach enables the functional goals of restoration to vary depending on environmental context, stakeholder values, and the spatial and temporal scales at which meaningful impacts can be achieved.
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 15-11-2018
DOI: 10.3354/MEPS12760
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 12-05-2006
Abstract: Ecological interactions, such as predation and bioturbation, are thought to be fundamental determinants of macroevolutionary trends. A data set containing global occurrences of Phanerozoic fossils of benthic marine invertebrates shows escalatory trends in the relative frequency of ecological groups, such as carnivores and noncarnivorous infaunal or mobile organisms. Associations between these trends are either statistically insignificant or interpretable as preservational effects. Thus, there is no evidence that escalation drives macroecological trends at global and million-year time scales. We also find that taxonomic richness and occurrence data are cross-correlated, which justifies the traditional use of one as a proxy of the other.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-11-2011
DOI: 10.1007/S00114-011-0862-4
Abstract: Orb web spiders sit at the centre of their approximately circular webs when waiting for prey and so face many of the same challenges as central-place foragers. Prey value decreases with distance from the hub as a function of prey escape time. The further from the hub that prey are intercepted, the longer it takes a spider to reach them and the greater chance they have of escaping. Several species of orb web spiders build vertically elongated ladder-like orb webs against tree trunks, rather than circular orb webs in the open. As ladder web spiders invest disproportionately more web area further from the hub, it is expected they will experience reduced prey gain per unit area of web investment compared to spiders that build circular webs. We developed a model to investigate how building webs in the space-limited microhabitat on tree trunks influences the optimal size, shape and net prey gain of arboricolous ladder webs. The model suggests that as horizontal space becomes more limited, optimal web shape becomes more elongated, and optimal web area decreases. This change in web geometry results in decreased net prey gain compared to webs built without space constraints. However, when space is limited, spiders can achieve higher net prey gain compared to building typical circular webs in the same limited space. Our model shows how spiders optimise web investment in sub-optimal conditions and can be used to understand foraging investment trade-offs in other central-place foragers faced with constrained foraging arenas.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-09-2015
DOI: 10.1038/SREP14121
Abstract: Spider orb-webs are the ultimate anti-ballistic devices, capable of dissipating the relatively massive kinetic energy of flying prey. Increased web size and prey stopping capacity have co-evolved in a number orb-web taxa, but the selective forces driving web size and performance increases are under debate. The rare, large prey hypothesis maintains that the energetic benefits of rare, very large prey are so much greater than the gains from smaller, more common prey that smaller prey are irrelevant for reproduction. Here, we integrate biophysical and ecological data and models to test a major prediction of the rare, large prey hypothesis, that selection should favour webs with increased stopping capacity and that large prey should comprise a significant proportion of prey stopped by a web. We find that larger webs indeed have a greater capacity to stop large prey. However, based on prey ecology, we also find that these large prey make up a tiny fraction of the total biomass (=energy) potentially captured. We conclude that large webs are adapted to stop more total biomass and that the capacity to stop rare, but very large, prey is an incidental consequence of the longer radial silks that scale with web size.
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 08-09-2023
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 22-03-2017
Abstract: Predicting demographic rates is a critical part of forecasting the future of ecosystems under global change. Here, we test if growth rates can be predicted from morphological traits for a highly erse group of colonial symbiotic organisms: scleractinian corals. We ask whether growth is isometric or allometric among corals, and whether most variation in coral growth rates occurs at the level of the species or morphological group. We estimate growth as change in planar area for 11 species, across five morphological groups and over 5 years. We show that coral growth rates are best predicted from colony size and morphology rather than species. Coral size follows a power scaling law with a constant exponent of 0.91. Despite being colonial organisms, corals have consistent allometric scaling in growth. This consistency simplifies the task of projecting community responses to disturbance and climate change.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-07-2023
Abstract: Humans have long sought to restore species but little attention has been directed at how to best select a subset of foundation species for maintaining rich assemblages that support ecosystems, like coral reefs and rainforests, which are increasingly threatened by environmental change. We propose a two‐part hedging approach that selects optimized sets of species for restoration. The first part acknowledges that bio ersity supports ecosystem functions and services, and so it ensures precaution against loss by allocating an even spread of phenotypic traits. The second part maximizes species and ecosystem persistence by weighting species based on characteristics that are known to improve ecological persistence—for ex le abundance, species range and tolerance to environmental change. Using existing phenotypic‐trait and ecological data for reef building corals, we identified sets of ecologically persistent species by examining marginal returns in occupancy of phenotypic trait space. We compared optimal sets of species with those from the world's southern‐most coral reef, which naturally harbours low coral ersity, to show these occupy much of the trait space. Comparison with an existing coral restoration program indicated that current corals used for restoration only cover part of the desired trait space and programs may be improved by including species with different traits. Synthesis and applications . While there are many possible criteria for selecting species for restoration, the approach proposed here addresses the need to insure against unpredictable losses of ecosystem services by focusing on a wide range of phenotypic traits and ecological characteristics. Furthermore, the flexibility of the approach enables the functional goals of restoration to vary depending on environmental context, stakeholder values, and the spatial and temporal scales at which meaningful impacts can be achieved.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2016
DOI: 10.1002/FEE.1232
Publisher: Society for Sedimentary Geology
Date: 12-2015
Abstract: Predation is frequently suggested to be a key biotic process that can shape ecological communities and drive coevolution. The premise behind these hypotheses is that predators select prey to ensure maximum gain per unit effort for ex le, by selecting species that are more abundant or accessible. In this study, we tested for predator selectivity in a tropical molluscan assemblage by quantifying the influence of relative abundance (encounter frequency) on predation frequencies. We collected macromollusks ( 4 mm) from 15 sites in three soft-sediment reef lagoons at One Tree Reef (southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia). Dead mollusks were counted and identified to species level (61 species, n = 8131), and species predation frequencies were calculated as the proportion of shells with drill holes. We found that in this infauna-dominated community, levels of drilling predation were low (7.14% on average), and there was no evidence that predators selected prey based on encounter frequency. This result was consistent across prey species and lagoons. Thus, drilling predators did not specialize on more accessible prey species and were not a major cause of mortality in this modern macromollusk assemblage. Since drilling gastropods are size selective, lack of selectivity in our s les only applies to the prey size range considered. Detailed studies of prey morphological traits, as well as accounting for predator non-consumptive effects could shed light on the preferences and relevance of drilling gastropods in this soft-sediment carbonate reef assemblage.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-03-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2018
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12729
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-06-2011
DOI: 10.1038/SREP00014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-05-2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-01-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-020-00793-8
Abstract: The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-019-1081-Y
Abstract: Changes in disturbance regimes due to climate change are increasingly challenging the capacity of ecosystems to absorb recurrent shocks and reassemble afterwards, escalating the risk of widespread ecological collapse of current ecosystems and the emergence of novel assemblages
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 11-2010
Abstract: Spider silks exhibit remarkable properties, surpassing most natural and synthetic materials in both strength and toughness. Orb-web spider dragline silk is the focus of intense research by material scientists attempting to mimic these naturally produced fibres. However, biomechanical research on spider silks is often removed from the context of web ecology and spider foraging behaviour. Similarly, evolutionary and ecological research on spiders rarely considers the significance of silk properties. Here, we highlight the critical need to integrate biomechanical and ecological perspectives on spider silks to generate a better understanding of (i) how silk biomechanics and web architectures interacted to influence spider web evolution along different structural pathways, and (ii) how silks function in an ecological context, which may identify novel silk applications. An integrative, mechanistic approach to understanding silk and web function, as well as the selective pressures driving their evolution, will help uncover the potential impacts of environmental change and species invasions (of both spiders and prey) on spider success. Integrating these fields will also allow us to take advantage of the remarkable properties of spider silks, expanding the range of possible silk applications from single threads to two- and three-dimensional thread networks.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-03-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-11-2022
Abstract: Traits have become a crucial part of ecological and evolutionary sciences, helping researchers understand the function of an organism's morphology, physiology, growth and life history, with effects on fitness, behaviour, interactions with the environment and ecosystem processes. However, measuring, compiling and analysing trait data comes with data‐scientific challenges. We offer 10 (mostly) simple rules, with some detailed extensions, as a guide in making critical decisions that consider the entire life cycle of trait data. This article is particularly motivated by its last rule, that is, to propagate good practice. It has the intention of bringing awareness of how data on the traits of organisms can be collected and managed for reuse by the research community. Trait observations are relevant to a broad interdisciplinary community of field biologists, synthesis ecologists, evolutionary biologists, computer scientists and database managers. We hope these basic guidelines can be useful as a starter for active communication in disseminating such integrative knowledge and in how to make trait data future‐proof. We invite the scientific community to participate in this effort at est‐practices.html .
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-07-2015
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.12574
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-02-2021
DOI: 10.1111/OIK.07912
Abstract: A recent compilation of traits across culturable species of bacteria and archaea allows relationships to be quantified between genome size and other traits and habitat. Cell morphology, size, motility, sporulation and doubling time were not strongly correlated with genome size. Aerobic species averaged ca 35% larger genomes than anaerobic, adjusted for growth temperature. Aerobes had a similar mix of gene functions compared to anaerobes of the same genome size. Shifting proportions of aerobes to anaerobes accounted for about half of previously‐known differences in mean genome size between habitats. One possible factor in these results could be if effective population sizes are larger for aerobes, reducing the potential for gene loss via genetic drift. Larger genomes also confer versatility. They can transport and metabolise a wider range of substrates. More of their genome is engaged in signal detection and response, indicating they benefit from different resources at different times or under different condition. Aerobic habitats might well present opportunities and challenges that vary through time more than anaerobic habitats. The genome size trait‐dimension contributes a useful quantitative descriptor for ecological strategies.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-11-2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-03-2023
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.14208
Abstract: In their recent synopsis, Loke and Chisholm ( Ecology Letters, 25, 2269–2288, 2022 ) present an overview of habitat complexity metrics for ecologists. They provide a review and some sound advice. However, we found several of their analyses and opinions misleading. This technical note provides a different perspective on the complexity metrics assessed.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 19-02-2019
DOI: 10.1101/553453
Abstract: The morphology of coral colonies has important implications for their biological and ecological performance, including their role as ecosystem engineers. However, given that morphology is difficult to quantify across many taxa, morphological variation is typically shoehorned into coarse growth form categories (e.g., arborescent and digitate). In this study, we develop a quantitative schema for morphology by identifying three-dimensional shape variables that can describe coral morphology. We contrast six variables estimated from 152 laser scans of coral colonies that ranged across seven growth form categories and three orders of magnitude of size. We found that 88% of the variation in shape was captured by two axes of variation and three shape variables. The main axis was variation in volume compactness ( cf . sphericity) and the second axis was the trade-off between surface complexity and the vertical distribution of volume (i.e., top heaviness). Variation in volume compactness also limited variation along the second axis, where surface complexity and vertical volume distribution ranged more freely when compactness was low. Traditional growth form categories occupied distinct regions within this morpho-space. However, these regions overlapped due to shape changes with colony size. Nonetheless, four of the shape variables were able to predict traditional growth form categories with 70 to 95% accuracy, suggesting that the continuous variables captured much of the qualitative variation inherently implied by these growth forms. Distilling coral morphology into geometric variables that capture shape variation will allow for better tests of the mechanisms that govern coral biology, ecology and ecosystem services such as reef building and provision of habitat.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-02-2017
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.2701
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2012
DOI: 10.1016/J.MARPOLBUL.2012.06.027
Abstract: Understanding the linkages between coastal watersheds and adjacent coral reefs is expected to lead to better coral reef conservation strategies. Our study aims to examine the main predictors of environmental proxies recorded in near shore corals and therefore how linked near shore reefs are to the catchment physical processes. To achieve these, we developed models to simulate hydrology of two watersheds in Madagascar. We examined relationships between environmental proxies derived from massive Porites spp. coral cores (spectral luminescence and barium/calcium ratios), and corresponding time-series (1950-2006) data of hydrology, climate, land use and human population growth. Results suggest regional differences in the main environmental drivers of reef sedimentation: on annual time-scales, precipitation, river flow and sediment load explained the variability in coral proxies of river discharge for the northeast region, while El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and temperature (air and sea surface) were the best predictors in the southwest region.
Publisher: Bulletin of Marine Science
Date: 04-2014
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-06-2020
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-020-0497-4
Abstract: A synthesis of phenotypic and quantitative genomic traits is provided for bacteria and archaea, in the form of a scripted, reproducible workflow that standardizes and merges 26 sources. The resulting unified dataset covers 14 phenotypic traits, 5 quantitative genomic traits, and 4 environmental characteristics for approximately 170,000 strain-level and 15,000 species-aggregated records. It spans all habitats including soils, marine and fresh waters and sediments, host-associated and thermal. Trait data can find use in clarifying major dimensions of ecological strategy variation across species. They can also be used in conjunction with species and abundance s ling to characterize trait mixtures in communities and responses of traits along environmental gradients.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 2020
Abstract: Body size is a trait that broadly influences the demography and ecology of organisms. In unitary organisms, body size tends to increase with age. In modular organisms, body size can either increase or decrease with age, with size changes being the net difference between modules added through growth and modules lost through partial mortality. Rates of colony extension are independent of body size, but net growth is allometric, suggesting a significant role of size-dependent mortality. In this study, we develop a generalizable model of partitioned growth and partial mortality and apply it to data from 11 species of reef-building coral. We show that corals generally grow at constant radial increments that are size independent, and that partial mortality acts more strongly on small colonies. We also show a clear life-history trade-off between growth and partial mortality that is governed by growth form. This decomposition of net growth can provide mechanistic insights into the relative demographic effects of the intrinsic factors (e.g. acquisition of food and life-history strategy), which tend to affect growth, and extrinsic factors (e.g. physical damage, and predation), which tend to affect mortality.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-03-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.13718
Abstract: Quantifying changes in functional community structure driven by disturbance is critical to anticipate potential shifts in ecosystem functioning. However, how marine heatwaves (MHWs) affect the functional structure of temperate coral‐dominated communities is poorly understood. Here, we used five long‐term ( 10 years) records of Mediterranean coralligenous assemblages in a multi‐taxa, trait‐based analysis to investigate MHW‐driven changes in functional structure. We show that, despite stability in functional richness (i.e. the range of species functional traits), MHW‐impacted assemblages experienced long‐term directional changes in functional identity (i.e. their dominant trait values). Declining traits included large sizes, long lifespans, arborescent morphologies, filter‐feeding strategies or calcified skeletons. These traits, which were mostly supported by few sensitive and irreplaceable species from a single functional group (habitat‐forming octocorals), disproportionally influence certain ecosystem functions (e.g. 3D‐habitat provision). Hence, MHWs are leading to assemblages that are deficient in key functional traits, with likely consequences for the ecosystem functioning.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.3863
Abstract: Life‐history traits are promising tools to predict species commonness and rarity because they influence a population's fitness in a given environment. Yet, species with similar traits can have vastly different abundances, challenging the prospect of robust trait‐based predictions. Using long‐term demographic monitoring, we show that coral populations with similar morphological and life‐history traits show persistent (decade‐long) differences in abundance. Morphological groups predicted species positions along two, well known life‐history axes (the fast‐slow continuum and size‐specific fecundity). However, integral projection models revealed that density‐independent population growth (λ) was more variable within morphological groups, and was consistently higher in dominant species relative to rare species. Within‐group λ differences projected large abundance differences among similar species in short timeframes, and were generated by small but compounding variation in growth, survival, and reproduction. Our study shows that easily measured morphological traits predict demographic strategies, yet small life‐history differences can accumulate into large differences in λ and abundance among similar species. Quantifying the net effects of multiple traits on population dynamics is therefore essential to anticipate species commonness and rarity.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-06-2014
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.12306
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-06-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.6347
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 24-04-2019
Abstract: Marine reserves can effectively restore harvested populations, and ‘mega-reserves’ increasingly protect large tracts of ocean. However, no method exists of monitoring ecological responses at this large scale. Herbivory is a key mechanism structuring ecosystems, and this consumer–resource interaction's strength on coral reefs can indicate ecosystem health. We screened 1372, and measured features of 214, reefs throughout Australia's Great Barrier Reef using high-resolution satellite imagery, combined with remote underwater videography and assays on a subset, to quantify the prevalence, size and potential causes of ‘grazing halos’. Halos are known to be seascape-scale footprints of herbivory and other ecological interactions. Here we show that these halo-like footprints are more prevalent in reserves, particularly older ones (approx. 40 years old), resulting in predictable changes to reef habitat at scales visible from space. While the direct mechanisms for this pattern are relatively clear, the indirect mechanisms remain untested. By combining remote sensing and behavioural ecology, our findings demonstrate that reserves can shape large-scale habitat structure by altering herbivores' functional importance, suggesting that reserves may have greater value in restoring ecosystems than previously appreciated. Additionally, our results show that we can now detect macro-patterns in reef species interactions using freely available satellite imagery. Low-cost, ecosystem-level observation tools will be critical as reserves increase in number and scope further investigation into whether halos may help seems warranted. Significance statement : Marine reserves are a widely used tool to mitigate fishing impacts on marine ecosystems. Predicting reserves' large-scale effects on habitat structure and ecosystem functioning is a major challenge, however, because these effects unfold over longer and larger scales than most ecological studies. We use a unique approach merging remote sensing and behavioural ecology to detect ecosystem change within reserves in Australia's vast Great Barrier Reef. We find evidence of changes in reefs' algal habitat structure occurring over large spatial (thousands of kilometres) and temporal (40+ years) scales, demonstrating that reserves can alter herbivory and habitat structure in predictable ways. This approach demonstrates that we can now detect aspects of reefs' ecological responses to protection even in remote and inaccessible reefs globally.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-05-2017
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-017-02402-Y
Abstract: Reef coral assemblages are highly dynamic and subject to repeated disturbances, which are predicted to increase in response to climate change. Consequently there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying different recovery scenarios. Recent work has demonstrated that reef structural complexity can facilitate coral recovery, but the mechanism remains unclear. Similarly, experiments suggest that coral larvae can distinguish between the water from healthy and degraded reefs, however, whether or not they can use these cues to navigate to healthy reefs is an open question. Here, we use a meta-analytic approach to document that coral larval swimming speeds are orders of magnitude lower than measurements of water flow both on and off reefs. Therefore, the ability of coral larvae to navigate to reefs while in the open-ocean, or to settlement sites while on reefs is extremely limited. We then show experimentally that turbulence generated by fine scale structure is required to deliver larvae to the substratum even in conditions mimicking calm back-reef flow environments. We conclude that structural complexity at a number of scales assists coral recovery by facilitating both the delivery of coral larvae to the substratum and settlement.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2016
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-03-2016
Abstract: Trait-based approaches advance ecological and evolutionary research because traits provide a strong link to an organism’s function and fitness. Trait-based research might lead to a deeper understanding of the functions of, and services provided by, ecosystems, thereby improving management, which is vital in the current era of rapid environmental change. Coral reef scientists have long collected trait data for corals however, these are difficult to access and often under-utilized in addressing large-scale questions. We present the Coral Trait Database initiative that aims to bring together physiological, morphological, ecological, phylogenetic and biogeographic trait information into a single repository. The database houses species- and in idual-level data from published field and experimental studies alongside contextual data that provide important framing for analyses. In this data descriptor, we release data for 56 traits for 1547 species, and present a collaborative platform on which other trait data are being actively federated. Our overall goal is for the Coral Trait Database to become an open-source, community-led data clearinghouse that accelerates coral reef research.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-01-2020
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 06-02-2018
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.4280
Abstract: Coral reefs are a valuable and vulnerable marine ecosystem. The structure of coral reefs influences their health and ability to fulfill ecosystem functions and services. However, monitoring reef corals largely relies on 1D or 2D estimates of coral cover and abundance that overlook change in ecologically significant aspects of the reefs because they do not incorporate vertical or volumetric information. This study explores the relationship between 2D and 3D metrics of coral size. We show that surface area and volume scale consistently with planar area, albeit with morphotype specific conversion parameters. We use a photogrammetric approach using open-source software to estimate the ability of photogrammetry to provide measurement estimates of corals in 3D. Technological developments have made photogrammetry a valid and practical technique for studying coral reefs. We anticipate that these techniques for moving coral research from 2D into 3D will facilitate answering ecological questions by incorporating the 3rd dimension into monitoring.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-03-2021
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.7290
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 19-08-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.08.19.456946
Abstract: The structure of ecosystems is usually determined by the shape of the organisms that build it, commonly known as ecosystem engineers. Understanding to what extent plasticity and environmental filtering determine variation in ecosystem engineer physical structure is necessary to predict how ecosystem structure may change. Here, we explored coral survival and the plasticity of morphological traits that are critical for habitat provision in coral reefs. We conducted a reciprocal clonal transplant experiment in which branching corals from the genus Porites and Acropora were moved to and from a deep and a shallow site within a lagoon in the Mal es. Survival and trait analyses showed that transplant destination consistently induced the strongest changes, particularly among Acropora spp. The origin of the corals only marginally affected some of the traits. We also detected variation in the way in iduals from the same species and site differentiate their shape, showing that traits linked to habitat provision are phenotypically plastic. The results suggest coral phenotypic plasticity plays a stronger role than environmental filtering, in determining zonation of coral morphologies, and consequently the habitats they provide for other taxa.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 22-07-2013
Abstract: Species richness gradients are ubiquitous in nature, but the mechanisms that generate and maintain these patterns at macroecological scales remain unresolved. We use a new approach that focuses on overlapping geographical ranges of species to reveal that Indo-Pacific corals are assembled within 11 distinct faunal provinces. Province limits are characterized by co-occurrence of multiple species range boundaries. Unexpectedly, these faunal breaks are poorly predicted by contemporary environmental conditions and the present-day distribution of habitat. Instead, faunal breaks show striking concordance with geological features (tectonic plates and mantle plume tracks). The depth range over which a species occurs, its larval development rate and genus age are important determinants of the likelihood that species will straddle faunal breaks. Our findings indicate that historical processes, habitat heterogeneity and species colonization ability account for more of the present-day biogeographical patterns of corals than explanations based on the contemporary distribution of reefs or environmental conditions.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.TREE.2016.02.012
Abstract: Coral reefs are biologically erse and ecologically complex ecosystems constructed by stony corals. Despite decades of research, basic coral population biology and community ecology questions remain. Quantifying trait variation among species can help resolve these questions, but progress has been h ered by a paucity of trait data for the many, often rare, species and by a reliance on nonquantitative approaches. Therefore, we propose filling data gaps by prioritizing traits that are easy to measure, estimating key traits for species with missing data, and identifying 'supertraits' that capture a large amount of variation for a range of biological and ecological processes. Such an approach can accelerate our understanding of coral ecology and our ability to protect critically threatened global ecosystems.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-04-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.13742
Abstract: Bacteria and archaea have very different ecology compared to plants. One similarity, though, is that much discussion of their ecological strategies has invoked concepts such as oligotrophy or stress tolerance. For plants, so‐called ‘trait ecology’—strategy description reframed along measurable trait dimensions—has made global syntheses possible. Among widely measured trait dimensions for bacteria and archaea three main axes are evident. Maximum growth rate in association with rRNA operon copy number expresses a rate‐yield trade‐off that is analogous to the acquisitive–conservative spectrum in plants, though underpinned by different trade‐offs. Genome size in association with signal transduction expresses versatility. Cell size has influence on diffusive uptake and on relative wall costs. These trait dimensions, and potentially others, offer promise for interpreting ecology. At the same time, there are very substantial differences from plant trait ecology. Traits and their underpinning trade‐offs are different. Also, bacteria and archaea use a variety of different substrates. Bacterial strategies can be viewed both through the facet of substrate‐use pathways, and also through the facet of quantitative traits such as maximum growth rate. Preliminary evidence shows the quantitative traits vary widely within substrate‐use pathways. This indicates they convey information complementary to substrate use.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 14-09-2011
Abstract: How do biogeographically different provinces arise in response to oceanic barriers to dispersal? Here, we analyse how traits related to the pelagic dispersal and adult biology of 985 tropical reef fish species correlate with their establishing populations on both sides of two Atlantic marine barriers: the Mid-Atlantic Barrier (MAB) and the Amazon–Orinoco Plume (AOP). Generalized linear mixed-effects models indicate that predictors for successful barrier crossing are the ability to raft with flotsam for the deep-water MAB, non-reef habitat usage for the freshwater and sediment-rich AOP, and large adult-size and large latitudinal-range for both barriers. Variation in larval-development mode, often thought to be broadly related to larval-dispersal potential, is not a significant predictor in either case. Many more species of greater taxonomic ersity cross the AOP than the MAB. Rafters readily cross both barriers but represent a much smaller proportion of AOP crossers than MAB crossers. Successful establishment after crossing both barriers may be facilitated by broad environmental tolerance associated with large body size and wide latitudinal-range. These results highlight the need to look beyond larval-dispersal potential and assess adult-biology traits when assessing determinants of successful movements across marine barriers.
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 05-03-2018
Abstract: The wide variety of functional trait combinations among the world’s coral faunas can be represented by just a few dimensions of variation. The ersity of coral traits among these dimensions is consistently high along Pacific and Indian Ocean ersity gradients, despite a threefold decline in species richness (from approximately 600 to 200 species). Functional redundancy, defined as multiple species sharing similar arrays of traits, is highest in the central Indo-Pacific bio ersity hotspot. While these Indo-Pacific provinces are globally important reserves of coral reef resilience and function, peripheral species-poor regions are potentially more vulnerable to functional collapse, as indicated by a critical lack of redundancy among species and the reduced capacity for similar species to respond differently to chronic or acute stressors.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-06-2012
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-06-2024
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.14114
Abstract: Insights into assemblages that can persist in extreme environments are still emerging. Ocean warming and acidification select against species with low physiological tolerance (trait-based 'filtering'). However, intraspecific trait variation can promote species adaptation and persistence, with potentially large effects on assemblage structure. By s ling nine coral traits (four morphological, four tissue and one skeletal) along an offshore-inshore gradient in temperature and pH, we show that distantly related coral species undergo consistent intraspecific changes as they cross into warm, acidic environments. Intraspecific variation and species turnover each favoured colonies with greater tissue biomass, higher symbiont densities and reduced skeletal investments, indicating strong filtering on colony physiology within and across species. Physiological tissue traits were highly variable within species and were independent of morphology, enabling morphologically erse species to cross into sites of elevated temperature and acidity. Widespread intraspecific change can therefore counter the loss of bio ersity and morphological structure across a steep environmental gradient.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-12-2016
Abstract: Scientific Data 3:160017 doi: 10.1038/sdata.2016.17 (2016) Published 29 March 2016 Updated 5 December 2017. The authors regret that Aaron Harmer was omitted in error from the author list of the original version of this Data Descriptor. This omission has now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions.
Publisher: Society for Sedimentary Geology
Date: 12-2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-06-2017
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.3127
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 03-02-2023
DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.03.526822
Abstract: Biotic responses to global change include directional shifts in organismal traits. Body size, an integrative trait that determines demographic rates and ecosystem functions, is often thought to be shrinking in the Anthropocene. Here, we assess the prevalence of body size change in six taxon groups across 5,032 assemblage time-series spanning 1960-2020. Using the Price equation to partition this change into within-species body size versus compositional changes, we detect prevailing decreases in body size through time. Change in assemblage composition contributes more to body size changes than within-species trends, but both components show substantial variation in magnitude and direction. The biomass of assemblages remains remarkably stable as decreases in body size trade-off with increases in abundance. Variable within-species and compositional trends combine into shrinking body size, abundance increases and stable biomass.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-08-2020
No related organisations have been discovered for Joshua Madin.
Start Date: 2009
End Date: 12-2012
Amount: $170,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 07-2012
End Date: 12-2016
Amount: $582,856.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2018
End Date: 2018
Amount: $393,245.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity