Long-Term Region-Wide Declines in Caribbean Corals
Abstract
We report a massive region-wide decline of corals across the entire Caribbean basin, with the average hard coral cover on reefs being reduced by 80%, from about 50% to 10% cover, in three decades. Our meta-analysis shows that patterns of change in coral cover are variable across time periods but largely consistent across subregions, suggesting that local causes have operated with some degree of synchrony on a region-wide scale. Although the rate of coral loss has slowed in the past decade compared to the 1980s, significant declines are persisting. The ability of Caribbean coral reefs to cope with future local and global environmental change may be irretrievably compromised.
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We thank R. Aronson, R. Bak, J. Bythell, D. Catanzaro, L. Cho, P. Edmunds, G. Garrison, F. Geraldes, C. Glendinning, K. Hackett, A. Harborne, E. Hernandez-Delgado, Z. Hillis-Starr, W. Jaap, L. Kellogg, T. McClanahan, M. McField, J. Miller, T. Murdoch, R. Nemeth, W. Precht, C. Rogers, G. Shinn, and M. Schuit for providing unpublished data or manuscripts in press, and R. Aronson, R. Bak, P. Edmunds, J. Gurevitch, W. Jaap, T. McClanahan, M. McField, M. Miller, B. Potter, W. Precht, B. Reigl, C. Rogers, E. Shinn, W. Sutherland, M. Vermeij, and J. Woodleyfor important discussions. Supported bythe Natural Environment Research Council (UK) and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
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Science
Volume 301 | Issue 5635
15 August 2003
15 August 2003
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American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Received: 24 April 2003
Accepted: 9 May 2003
Published in print: 15 August 2003
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