Experimental biology of coral reef ecosystems

Abstract

Coral reef ecosystems are at the crossroads. While significant gaps still exist in our understanding of how “normal” reefs work, unprecedented changes in coral reef systems have forced the research community to change its focus from basic research to understand how one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world works to basic research with strong applied implications to alleviate damage, save, or restore coral reef ecosystems. A wide range of stressors on local, regional, and global spatial scales including over fishing, diseases, large-scale disturbance events, global climate change (e.g., ozone depletion, global warming), and over population have all contributed to declines in coral cover or phase shifts in community structure on time scales never observed before. Many of these changes are directly or indirectly related to anthropogenically induced changes in the global support network that affects all ecosystems. This review focuses on some recent advances in the experimental biology of coral reef ecosystems, and in particular scleractinian corals, at all levels of biological organization. Many of the areas of interest and techniques discussed reflect a progression of technological advances in biology and ecology but have found unique and timely application in the field of experimental coral reef biology. The review, by nature, will not be exhaustive and reflects the author's interests to a large degree. Because of the voluminous literature available, an attempt has been made to capture the essential elements and references for each topic discussed.