Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:16:42.117Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reefs Through the Looking Glass

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2017

Dennis K. Hubbard
Dennis K. Hubbard*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Oberlin College, Oberlin OH 44074
Get access

Abstract

Coral reefs have experienced a profound shift in community structure in recent decades, a pattern that contrasts with the apparent constancy of Caribbean reef zonation over the past 2 million years. The abrupt decline in branching Acropora palmata and massive frame-builders like Montastrea annularis in the Caribbean is troubling, and similar patterns have been reported from virtually every ocean. As we ponder the future of coral reefs, we must be mindful that our best monitoring records span perhaps half a century – and those are exceedingly rare. “Pristine” reefs may not have existed since Columbus sailed for the new world, and anthropogenic impacts probably extend even farther back in time.

Despite the vagaries of evolutionary change, taphonomy and time averaging, the geologic record still represents a unique source of important information about the processes that have controlled community structure and reef building in the absence of human influences. The creation of rigid and elevated structures requires calcification rates that are capable of filling the accommodation space created by rising sea level. This has been complicated over the past three to four decades as accelerated sea-level rise has been joined by a suite of stresses that probably slow accretion. Explaining the recent reef decline and posing realistic models of future change will require an understanding of carbonate cycling in the past, the processes that have been involved and a quantitative assessment of how anthropogenic stresses are affecting both.

At the least a look back in time may help to constrain the thresholds at which change might be expected to occur in the future. At best, the context gained from examining the “recent” geological past may provide insights into which possible solutions are most consistent with observed patterns at larger spatial and temporal scales.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Paleontological Society Papers , Volume 17: Corals and Reefs: Crises, Collapse and Change , October 2011 , pp. 95 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adey, W. H., and Burke, R. B. 1977. Holocene bioherms of the Lesser Antilles – geologic control of development, In Frost, S. H., Weiss, M. P., and Saunders, J. (eds.), Reefs and Related Carbonates – Ecology and Sedimentology. AAPG Studies in Geology, 4:67–81.Google Scholar
Adey, W. H., Macintyre, I. G., Stuckenrath, R., and Dill, R. F. 1977. Relict barrier reef system off St. Croix: its implications with respect to late Cenozoic coral reef development in the western Atlantic. Proceedings of the 3rd International Coral Reef Symposium, 2:15–22.Google Scholar
Al-Horani, F. A., Al-Moghrabi, S. M., and de Beer, D. 2003. The mechanism of calcification and its relation to photosynthesis and respiration in the scleractinian coral Galaxea fascicularis . Marine Biology, 142:419–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, W. 1987. Home Economics, North Point Press, New York.Google Scholar
Blanchon, P. 2010. Backstepping In Hopley, D. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs. Springer, The Netherlands, p. 77–83 Google Scholar
Blanchon, P., and Blakeway, P. 2003. Are catch-up reefs and artifact of coring? Sedimentology, 50:1271–1282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosscher, H. 1992. Growth potential of coral reefs and carbonate platforms. Proefschrift Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Utrecht, Netherlands, 157p.Google Scholar
Bruckner, A. W., and Hill, R. L. 2009. Ten years of change to coral communities off Mona and Desecheo Islands, Puerto Rico, from disease and bleaching. Disease of Aquatic Organisms, 87:19–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Budd, A. F. 2000. Diversity and extinction in the Cenozoic history of Caribbean reefs. Coral Reefs, 19:25–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budd, A. F., Johnson, K. G., Stemman, T. A., and Thompkins, B. H. 1999. Plio to Pleistocene reef coral assemblages in the Limon Group of Costa Rica. In Collins, L. S., and Coates, A. G. (eds.), A Paleobiotic Survey of the Caribbean Faunas from the Neogene on the Isthmus of Panama. Bulletin of American Paleontology, Special Volume 357:229–258.Google Scholar
Budd, A. F., and Manfrino, C. 2001. Coral assemblages in Neogene to Recent cores from the Bahamas platform and their use in paleoenvironmental interpretation, In Ginsburg, R.N. (ed.), Subsurface Geology of a Prograding Carbonate Platform Margin, Great Bahama Bank: Results of the Bahamas Drilling Project. SEPM Special Publication, 70:47–61.Google Scholar
Carpenter, R. C. 1985. Sea urchin mass-mortality: effects on reef abundance, species competition, and metabolism and other coral reef herbivores. Proceedings of the 5th Coral Reef Symposium, 4: 53–60.Google Scholar
Carter, B. L., Simms, M. A., Moore, C. H., Roberts, H. H., and Lugo-Fernandez, A. 1989. Wave-forced hydrogeology and diagenetic responses in Tague Reef, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. In Hubbard, D. K. (ed.), Terrestrial and Marine Geology of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. West Indies Laboratory Special Publication No. 8:111–116.Google Scholar
Cazenave, A., and Llovel, W. 2010. Contemporary sea level rise. Annual Review of Marine Science, 2:145–173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chalker, B. E. 1981. Simulating light-saturation curves for photosynthesis and calcification by reef-building corals. Marine Biology, 63:135–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Church, J. A., White, N. J., Coleman, R., Lambeck, K., and Mitrovica, J. X. 2004. Estimates of the regional distribution of sea-level rise over the 1950 to 2000 period. Journal of Climatology, 17:2609–25.Google Scholar
Cohen, A. L., and Holcomb, M. 2009. Why corals care about ocean acidification: uncovering the mechanism. Oceanography, 22:118–127.Google Scholar
Cohen, A. L., and McConnaughey, T. A. 2003. Geochemical perspectives on coral mineralization. In Dove, P.M., Weiner, S., and deYoreo, J.J. (eds.), Biomineralization. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, 54: 151–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, A. L., McCorkle, D. C., de Putron, S., Gaetani, G. A., and Rose, K. A. 2009. Morphological and compositional changes in the skeletons of new coral recruits reared in acidified seawater: Insights into the biomineralization response to ocean acidification. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 10: Q07005, doi:10.1029/2009GC002411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, J. H. 1978 Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science, 199:1302–1310.Google ScholarPubMed
Davis, W. M. 1928. The Coral Reef Problem. American Geographical Society, New York.Google Scholar
Dullo, W-C. 2005. Coral growth and reef growth: a brief review. Coral Reefs, 51:33–48.Google Scholar
Fagerstrom, J. A. 1987. The Evolution of Coral Reefs. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 600 p.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, R. G. 1989. A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on Younger Dryas events and deep ocean circulation. Nature, 342:637–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fong, P., and Glynn, P. W. 2001. Population abundance and size-structure of an eastern tropical Pacific reef coral after the 1997–98 ENSO: a simulation model predicts field measures. Bulletin of Marine Science, 69:187–202.Google Scholar
Gao, J., and Copper, P. 1997 Growth rates of middle Paleozoic corals and sponges: early Silurian of eastern Canada. Proceedings of the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium, 1:1651–1656.Google Scholar
Garcia-Pichel, F., Ramirez-Reinat, E., and Gau, Q. 2010. Microbial excavation of solid carbonates powered by P-type ATPase-mediated transcellular Ca2+ transport. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 107:21749–21754.Google ScholarPubMed
Geister, J. 1977. The influence of wave exposure on the ecology and zonation of Caribbean coral reefs. Proc. 3rd International Coral Reef Symposium, 1:23–29.Google Scholar
Gladfelter, W. B. 1982. White-band disease in Acropora palmata: implications for the structure and growth of shallow reefs. Bulletin of Marine Science, 32:639–643.Google Scholar
Glynn, P. 1990. Global Ecological Consequences of the 1982–83 El Niño Southern Oscillation. Elsevier Oceanography Series, New York, NY, 485 p.Google Scholar
Harvell, D., Aronson, R. B., Baron, N., Connell, J., Dobson, A. P., Ellner, S., Gerber, L., Kim, K., Kuris, A., McCallum, H., Lafferty, K., McKay, B., Porter, J., Pascual, M., Smith, G., Sutherland, K., and Ward, J. 2004. The rising tide of ocean diseases: unsolved problems and research priorities. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2:375–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvell, C. D., Jordn-Dahlgren, E., Merkel, S., Rosenberg, E., and Reymundo, L. 2010. Disease in Tropical Coral Reef Ecosystems: ICRI Key Messages on Coral Disease. http://www.coraldisease.org/.11p.Google Scholar
Heckel, P. H. 1974. Carbonate buildups in the geologic record, In LaPorte, L. F. (ed.), Reefs in Time and Space. SEPM Special Publication, 18:90–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinrich, H. 1988. Origin and consequences of cyclic ice rafting in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean during the past 130,000 years. Quaternary Research, 29:142–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopley, D., Smithers, S. G., and Parnell, K. E. 2007. The Geomorphology of the Great Barrier Reef. Cambridge University Press, 532p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbard, D. K. 1989. Terrestrial and Marine Geology of St. Croix. Spec. Publ. No. 9, West Indies Laboratory, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ., St. Croix, USVI, 213 p.Google Scholar
Hubbard, D. K. 2009. Depth and species-related patterns of Holocene reef accretion: a critical Assessment of existing models, In Gischler, E., Swart, P. K., and Lomando, A. J. (eds.), Perspectives in Carbonate Geology: A Tribute to the Career of Robert Nathan Ginsburg, IAS Special Publication, Blackwell, 4:1–18.Google Scholar
Hubbard, D. K., Miller, A. I., and Scaturo, D. 1990. Production and cycling of calcium carbonate in a shelf-edge reef system (St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands): applications to the nature of reef systems in the fossil record. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 60: 335–360.Google Scholar
Hubbard, D. K., Gill, I. P., Burke, R. B., and Morelock, J. 1997. Holocene reef backstepping - southwestern Puerto Rico Shelf. Proceedings of the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium, 2:1779–84.Google Scholar
Hubbard, D. K., Burke, R. B., and Gill, I. P. 1998. Where's the reef: the role of framework in the Holocene. Carbonates and Evaporites. 13:3–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbard, D. K., Burke, R. B., Gill, I. P., Ramirez, W., and Sherman, C. 2008. Coral-reef geology: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, In Riegl, B.M. and Dodge, R.E. (eds.), Coral Reefs of the USA. Springer, The Netherlands, p. 263–302 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbard, D., Ramirez, W., Cuevas, D., Erickson, T., and Estep, A. 2009. Holocene reef accretion along the north side of Bahia Enriquillo (western Dominican Republic): unique insights into patterns of reef development in response to sea-level rise. Proceedings of the 11th Intl. Coral Reef Symposium, 1: 43–48.Google Scholar
Hughes, T. P. 1994. Catastrophes, phase-shifts, and large-scale degradation of a Caribbean coral reef. Science, 265:1547–1551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, T. P., Nicholas, N. A. J., Jackson, J. B. C., Mumby, P. J., and Steneck, R. S. 2010. Rising to the challenge of sustaining coral reef resilience. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 25:619–680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ICRI/UNEP-WCMC, 2010, Diseases in Tropical Coral Reef Ecosystems: ICRI Key Messages on Coral Disease. Produced by UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, United Kingdom 13p.Google Scholar
IPCC. 2007. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, Contributions of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), Cambridge University Press, UK.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. B. C. 1992. Pleistocene perspectives on coral reef community structure. American Zoologist, 32:719–731.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, J. B. C. 1997. Reefs since Columbus. Coral Reefs, 16: S23–S32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, M. Z. 2005, Studying ocean acidification with conservative, stable numerical schemes for non-equilibrium air-ocean exchange and ocean equilibrium chemistry. J. of Geophysical Research, 110: D07302, doi:10.1029/2004JD005220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jevrejeva, S., Grinsted, A., Moore, J. C., and Holgate, S. 2006. Nonlinear trends and multiyear cycles in sea level records. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111:C09012, doi:10.1029/2005/-JC003229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klaus, J. S., Budd, A. F., McNeill, D. F., and Johnson, K. G. 2008. Assessing community structure in Miocene to Pliocene coral assemblages of the northern Dominican Republic, In Nehm, R. H. and Budd, A. F. (eds.) Evolutionary Stasis and Change in the Dominican Republic, Springer, New York, p. 193–224 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Land, L. S. 1979. The fate of reef-derived sediment on the north Jamaican island slope. Marine Geology, 29:55–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Land, L., and Goreau, T. F. 1970. Submarine lithification of Jamaican reefs. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 40:457–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lisiecki, L. E., and Raymo, M., 2005. A Pliocene-Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic ∂18O records. Paleoceanography, 20: PA1003, doi:10.1029/2004PA001071.Google Scholar
Lowenstam, H. A. 1950. Niagran reefs of the Great Lakes area. Journal of Geology, 58: 430–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeill, D. F., Budd, A. F., and Borne, P. F. 1997. An earlier (Late Pliocene) first appearance of the reef-building coral Acropora palmata: its stratigraphic and evolutionary implications. Geology, 25:891–894.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeill, D. F., Coates, A. G., Budd, A. F., and Borne, P. F. 2000. Stratigraphy of Late Neogene Caribbean reefs and siliciclastics: a coastal emergence record of the Isthmus of Panama. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 112:963–981.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, J., Waara, R., Muller, E., and Rogers, C. 2006. Coral bleaching and disease combine to cause extensive mortality on reefs in U.S. Virgin Islands. Coral Reefs, 25:418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montaggioni, L. 2005. History of Indo-Pacific coral reef systems since the last glaciation: development patterns and controlling factors. Earth Science Reviews, 71:1–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newell, N. D. 1971. An outline history of tropical organic reefs. American Museum Novitates. New York Museum of Natural History, 37p.Google Scholar
Newell, N. D., Rigby, J. K., Fischer, A. G., Whiteman, A. J., Hickox, J. E., and Bradley, J. S. 1953. The Permian Reef Complex of the Guadalupe Mountains Region, Texas and New Mexico. W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, 236p.Google Scholar
Orr, J. C., Fabry, V. J., Aumont, O., Bopp, L., Doney, S. C., Feely, R. A., Gnanadesikan, A., Gruber, N., Ishida, A., Joos, F., Key, R. M., Lindsay, K., Maier-Reimer, E., Matear, R., Monfray, P., Mouchet, A., Najjar, R. G., Plattner, G-K, Rodgers, K. B., Sabine, C. L., Sarmiento, J. L., Schlitzer, R., Slater, R. D., Totterdell Marie-France Weirig, I. J., Yamanaka, Y., and Yool, A. 2005. Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms. Nature, 437: 681–686.Google ScholarPubMed
Pandolfi, J. M., Jackson, J. B. C., Baron, N., Bradbury, R. H., Guzman, H. M., Hughes, T. P., Kappen, C. V., Micheli, F., Ogden, J. C., Posingham, H. P., and Sala, E. 2005. Are U.S. reefs on the slippery slope to slime? Science, 307:1725–1726.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perry, C. T., and Hepburn, L. J. 2008. Syn-depositional alteration of coral reef framework through bioerosion, encrustation and cementation: taphonomic signatures of reef accretion and reef depositional events. Earth Science Reviews, 86:106–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, C. 1995. Effects of fishing on the ecosystem structure of coral reefs. Conservation Biology, 9:989–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rahmstorf, S. 2007. A semi-empirical approach to projecting future sea level rise. Science, 315:368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruddiman, W. F. 2005. How did humans first alter global climate? Scientific American. March: 46–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlager, W. 1981. The paradox of drowned reefs and carbonate platforms. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 92: 197–211.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scoffin, T. P. 1992. Taphonomy of coral reefs: a review. Coral Reefs, 11:57–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, G. D. Jr., and Fautin, D. G. 2001. The origin of modern corals. Science, 291:1913–1914.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stearn, C. W., and Scoffin, T. P. 1977. Carbonate budget of a fringing reef, Barbados. Proceedings of the 3rd International Coral Reef Symposium. 2: 471–477.Google Scholar
Weil, E. 2004. Coral reef diseases in the wider Caribbean. In Rosenberg, E. and Loya, Y. (eds), Coral Health and Disease. Berlin: Springer-Verlag: 25–68.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, C. 2008. Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2008. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Australia, 296p.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. L. 1975. Carbonate Facies in Geologic Time. Springer-Verlag, New York, 471p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeebe, E. E., and Wolf-Gladrow, D. A. 2001. CO2 in Seawater: Equilibrium, Kinetics and isotopes. Elsevier Oceanography Series Number 65, 346p.Google Scholar