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<p>Environmental disturbances can cause pronounced shifts in habitat-forming species with cascading effects across marine ecosystems. Long-term monitoring is critical to detect such ecosystem change and inform management, especially in dynamic subtropical regions with frequent and cumulative, severe disturbances that are amplified by climate change. Here, we quantify multi-decadal trends (2002–2023) across coral and benthic communities at eight, shallow (9–15&#xa0;m), mid-shelf (1.5–6&#xa0;km offshore) rocky reefs in the Solitary Islands Marine Park (SIMP) (30 S), a biodiversity hotspot along the tropical to temperate transition zone in subtropical eastern Australia. Hard corals and algae (primarily turf and coralline algae) were the dominant taxa on these shallow mid-shelf reefs. Despite severe disturbances in many years, coral communities in the SIMP showed remarkable resilience over a 22-year period that included mass coral bleaching in 2016; eight years with destructive East Coast Low storms where swell heights exceeded 8&#xa0;m (14 events); 13&#xa0;years with intense rainfall events (&gt; 100&#xa0;mm&#xa0;day<sup>−1</sup>); and a coral disease event. Mean coral cover recovered after episodic declines and followed an upward trajectory across our study sites from 32 in 2002 to 44% in 2023. This long-term trend was characterised by high abundance of <i>Turbinaria</i> and <i>Paragoniastrea</i> (&gt; 80% of coral cover), followed by <i>Acropora</i>, Pocilloporidae, <i>Astrea</i>, <i>Acanthastrea</i>, and <i>Porites</i>, many of which are high-latitude specialists. The variety and collective frequency of severe disturbances over the study period highlights the resilience of coral communities in the marginal subtropical environments in this region. Future monitoring will help quantify whether this trend holds under changing disturbance regimes.</p>

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Multi-decadal resilience (2002–2023) of subtropical coral communities in the Solitary Islands, eastern Australia, despite severe cumulative disturbances

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月8日

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  • Hamish A. Malcolm,
  • Marine Lechene,
  • Renata Ferrari,
  • Curtis Champion,
  • Steven J. Dalton,
  • Maria Beger,
  • James Cant,
  • Fiona Chong,
  • Wanchien Victoria Hsiao,
  • Sun W. Kim,
  • Liam Lachs,
  • Stephen D. A. Smith,
  • Will F. Figueira,
  • Brigitte Sommer

摘要

Environmental disturbances can cause pronounced shifts in habitat-forming species with cascading effects across marine ecosystems. Long-term monitoring is critical to detect such ecosystem change and inform management, especially in dynamic subtropical regions with frequent and cumulative, severe disturbances that are amplified by climate change. Here, we quantify multi-decadal trends (2002–2023) across coral and benthic communities at eight, shallow (9–15 m), mid-shelf (1.5–6 km offshore) rocky reefs in the Solitary Islands Marine Park (SIMP) (30 S), a biodiversity hotspot along the tropical to temperate transition zone in subtropical eastern Australia. Hard corals and algae (primarily turf and coralline algae) were the dominant taxa on these shallow mid-shelf reefs. Despite severe disturbances in many years, coral communities in the SIMP showed remarkable resilience over a 22-year period that included mass coral bleaching in 2016; eight years with destructive East Coast Low storms where swell heights exceeded 8 m (14 events); 13 years with intense rainfall events (> 100 mm day−1); and a coral disease event. Mean coral cover recovered after episodic declines and followed an upward trajectory across our study sites from 32 in 2002 to 44% in 2023. This long-term trend was characterised by high abundance of Turbinaria and Paragoniastrea (> 80% of coral cover), followed by Acropora, Pocilloporidae, Astrea, Acanthastrea, and Porites, many of which are high-latitude specialists. The variety and collective frequency of severe disturbances over the study period highlights the resilience of coral communities in the marginal subtropical environments in this region. Future monitoring will help quantify whether this trend holds under changing disturbance regimes.