The Effects of Nutrient Enrichment and Herbivore Abundance on the Ability of Turf Algae to Overgrow Coral in the Caribbean

摘要: Turf algae are multispecies communities of small marine macrophytes that becoming a dominant component coral reef around the world. To assess impact turf on corals, we investigated effects increased nutrients (eutrophication) interaction between Caribbean Montastraea annularis and at their growth boundary. We also assessed whether herbivores capable reducing abundance coral-algae boundaries. found cause visible (overgrowth) invisible negative (reduced fitness) neighbouring corals. Corals can overgrow very slowly (at rate 0.12 mm 3 wk−1) ambient nutrient concentrations, but overgrew corals 0.34 when were experimentally increased. Exclusion had no measurable effect used PAM fluorometry (a common approach for measuring colony's “fitness”) to detect photophysiology neighboring always reduced effective photochemical efficiency regardless and/or herbivore conditions. The findings not controlling enrichment gives an overall competitive advantage over together have serious implications health systems. At levels, traditional conservation measures aimed reversing coral-to-algae phase shifts by algal (i.e., increasing populations establishing Marine Protected Areas or tightening fishing regulations) will necessarily reduce local communities. Because become most abundant benthic group Curacao (and likely elsewhere in Caribbean), new strategies required mitigate