首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
     检索      


Estimating the footprint of pollution on coral reefs with models of species turnover
Authors:Christopher J Brown  Richard J Hamilton
Institution:1. Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia;2. The Nature Conservancy, Asia Pacific Resource Centre, South Brisbane, Australia;3. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
Abstract:Ecological communities typically change along gradients of human impact, although it is difficult to estimate the footprint of impacts for diffuse threats such as pollution. We developed a joint model (i.e., one that includes multiple species and their interactions with each other and environmental covariates) of benthic habitats on lagoonal coral reefs and used it to infer change in benthic composition along a gradient of distance from logging operations. The model estimated both changes in abundances of benthic groups and their compositional turnover, a type of beta diversity. We used the model to predict the footprint of turbidity impacts from past and recent logging. Benthic communities far from logging were dominated by branching corals, whereas communities close to logging had higher cover of dead coral, massive corals, and soft sediment. Recent impacts were predicted to be small relative to the extensive impacts of past logging because recent logging has occurred far from lagoonal reefs. Our model can be used more generally to estimate the footprint of human impacts on ecosystems and evaluate the benefits of conservation actions for ecosystems.
Keywords:Bayesian modeling  beta diversity  ecological indicator  latent variable  logging  multispecies distribution modeling  water quality  calidad del agua  explotació  n forestal  diversidad beta  indicador ecoló  gico  modelado bayesiano  modelado de distribució  n multiespecie  variable latente
设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号