Coral Reefs in the Indo-Pacific Ocean Naturally Tougher Than Caribbean Reefs

ScienceDaily (July 12, 2012) — Coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Great Barrier Reef, recover faster from major stresses than their Caribbean counterparts, leading marine scientists have said.

Dr George Roff and Professor Peter Mumby from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland told the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns on July 12 that coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific Ocean are naturally tougher than the Caribbean reefs.

“The main reason that Indo-Pacific reefs are more resilient is they have less seaweed than the Caribbean Sea,” Dr Roff says. “Seaweed and corals are age-old competitors in the battle for space. When seaweed growth rates are lower, such as the Indo-Pacific region, the reefs recover faster from setbacks. This provides coral with a competitive advantage over seaweed, and our study suggests that these reefs would have to be heavily degraded for seaweeds to take over.

“This doesn’t mean that we can be complacent — reefs around the world are still heavily threatened by climate change and human activities,” he says. “What it indicates is Indo-Pacific reefs will respond better to protection, and steps we take to keep them healthy have a better chance of succeeding.”

“Many of the doom and gloom stories have emanated from the Caribbean, which has deteriorated rapidly in the last 30 years,” says Professor Mumby. “We now appreciate that the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean are far more different than we thought.”

The study, published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (TREE), includes survey data Indo-Pacific region and Caribbean reefs from 1965 to 2010.

The researchers also found that seaweeds in Indo-Pacific region bloom four times more slowly than those in the Caribbean.

Read the fill article at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120712101545.htm