Abstract
The degree to which biotic communities are regionally enriched or locally saturated, and roles of key structuring processes, remain enduring ecological questions. Prior studies of reef-building corals of the Indo-west Pacific (IWP) found consistent evidence of regional enrichment, a finding subsequently questioned on methodological grounds. Here we revisit this relation, and associated relations between richness and abundance (as ‘Effective Number of Species’), and coral cover, used as a proxy for disturbance and competition. From 1994 to 2017, we sampled > 2,900 sites on shallow (typically 200 species, > 40 percent of regional pools and > 25 percent of the IWP total. For deep and shallow sites combined, the highest local tally reached 280 species ha-1. These places may represent the asymptote of local richness in reef-building corals, rare examples of the ecological complexity for which these increasingly endangered communities are justly renowned.
Highlights
IntroductionOver the past half-century, much practical and theoretical research has examined patterns and processes structuring ecological communities (e.g., MacArthur and Wilson, 1967; Hurlbert, 1971; Whittaker, 1972; Grime, 1973; Hill, 1973; Pielou, 1975; Connell, 1978, 1980; Huston, 1979, 1985; Menge and Sutherland, 1987; Roughgarden et al, 1989; Bengtsson et al, 1994; Chesson, 2000; Hubbell, 2001; Hall et al, 2012 among many others)
For reef-building corals, richness responds to biological, ecological, and oceanographic processes and disturbance regimes that influence reproduction, dispersal, recruitment, maintenance of space and survival
Ecological niches are compressed to a threshold size, beyond which incoming new species are balanced by local extinction events
Summary
Over the past half-century, much practical and theoretical research has examined patterns and processes structuring ecological communities (e.g., MacArthur and Wilson, 1967; Hurlbert, 1971; Whittaker, 1972; Grime, 1973; Hill, 1973; Pielou, 1975; Connell, 1978, 1980; Huston, 1979, 1985; Menge and Sutherland, 1987; Roughgarden et al, 1989; Bengtsson et al, 1994; Chesson, 2000; Hubbell, 2001; Hall et al, 2012 among many others). In “shallow time” and on local spatial scales, richness responds to variations in habitat, histories of disturbance, and species interactions, including competition, predation, and mutualism (Connell, 1978, 1980; Done, 1982; Sheppard, 1982; Rogers, 1993; Aronson and Precht, 1995; Veron, 1995; Cornell and Karlson, 1996, 2000; Hubbell, 1997, 2001; Karlson and Cornell, 1999, 2002; Nekola and White, 1999; van Woesik, 2002; Karlson et al, 2004, 2007; Done et al, 2015) Within this conceptual overview, the degree to which local communities are regionally enriched or locally saturated, and roles of key structuring processes, remain enduring ecological questions. In assessing the two models, Ricklefs (1987) concluded that local diversity depends on regional diversity, that regional and historical processes, as well as unique events and circumstances, profoundly influence local community structure
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
