Nature Communications (Jun 2016)

Overfishing and nutrient pollution interact with temperature to disrupt coral reefs down to microbial scales

  • Jesse R. Zaneveld,
  • Deron E. Burkepile,
  • Andrew A. Shantz,
  • Catharine E. Pritchard,
  • Ryan McMinds,
  • Jérôme P. Payet,
  • Rory Welsh,
  • Adrienne M. S. Correa,
  • Nathan P. Lemoine,
  • Stephanie Rosales,
  • Corinne Fuchs,
  • Jeffrey A. Maynard,
  • Rebecca Vega Thurber

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11833
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Overfishing and nutrient pollution can damage coral reefs in part by increasing coral-algal competition. Here the authors simulate these stressors in a three year field experiment, and show that they interact to enhance sensitivity to temperature, predation and bacterial opportunism.