Most stories relating to environment and ecology tend not to have happy endings. For recovery, coral reefs biggest problem is algae. If not kept in check algae will out compete coral for space. Ironically for Moorea reef, the loss of coral contributed to a rise in herbivores which feed on algae.
"The research team was surprised by its findings. The biomass of herbivores on the reef -- fish and other animals that eat plants like algae -- increased dramatically following the loss of live coral. "What was surprising to us was that the numbers of these species also increased dramatically,"
"Specifically, we wanted to know what ecological factors might be responsible for the dramatic patterns of recovery observed in Moorea."
"We discovered that these fringing reefs act as a nursery ground for baby fishes, most notably herbivorous fishes," said Brooks. "With more food available in the form of algae, the survivorship of these baby parrotfishes and surgeonfishes increased, providing more individuals to help control the algae on the fore reef. In effect, the large numbers of parrotfishes and surgeonfishes are acting like thousands of fishy lawnmowers, keeping the algae cropped down to levels low enough that there is still space for new baby corals to settle onto the reef and begin to grow."
Although corals are suffering from widespread destruction, ecology in this case is favoring their recovery. Overfishing of these fish species will lead to corals decline as algae will out compete coral for space. I believe that keeping coral populations intact will assure a higher amount of fish, as well as preserving the diversity of the reef.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111110130100.htm
1 comment:
I think this article is very similar to today's lecture when we mentioned the endemic species on Santa Cruz Island; more specifically, an ecosystem is often in a delicate balance that can easily be changed( on Santa Cruz island it was the gold eagles and pigs affecting the foxes, here it is the amount of algae that has too be kept at a low level to avoid out competing the coral, as well as be sufficient enough to benefit the fish).
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