Local Human Impacts Interact With Geography to Drive Benthic Community Depth Zonation on Contemporary Coral Reefs
June 18, 2025
How natural variability shapes coral reef communities—and the effects of human activities on their ecological balance.
Changes in biophysical conditions and energetic resource supply across depths are predicted to promote or limit the abundance of different coral reef benthic groups. However, the degree to which regional differences in biophysical processes govern and how local human activities might alter naturally occurring depth zonation patterns remains unclear. Here, we used 2239 reef surveys conducted between 0 and 30 m depth around 33 islands (18 unpopulated and 15 populated) across the Pacific Ocean to quantify the percentage cover change of seven broad benthic groups. We show coral reef communities are naturally highly variable and that human activities can disrupt natural patterns of ecological organization in contemporary ecosystems.
Turner RJ, Richardson LE, Couch CS, Harvey JA, Williams GJ 2025. Local human impacts interact with geography to drive benthic community depth zonation on contemporary coral reefs. Proc. R. Soc. B 292: 20241885. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1885