We studied the interacting roles of nutrient availability and herbivory in determining the macroalgal community in a rocky littoral environment. We conducted a factorial field experiment where we manipulated nutrient levels and herbivory at two sublittoral depths and measured macroalgal colonization and the following young assemblage during the growing season. At the community level, grazing reduced algal colonization, though the effect varied with depth and its interaction with nutrient availability varied in time. In shallow water, the total density of macroalgae increased in response to nutrient enrichment, but the ability of grazers to reduce macroalgal density also increased with the nutrient enrichment, and thus, the community could not escape from the top-down control. In deep water, the algal density was lower, except in July when nutrient enrichment caused a very dense algal growth. Grazing at the greater depth, though effective, was generally of smaller magnitude, and in July it could not limit algal recruitment and growth. Species richness peaked at the intermediate nutrient level in deep but not in shallow water during most of the growing season. Grazing had no effect on diversity of the algal community at either depth and only a minor effect on species richness at the greater depth. Opportunistic and ephemeral algae benefited from the nutrient enrichment but were also grazed to very low densities. Slowly growing and/or perennial species colonized poorly in the nutrient enriched treatments, and depending on the species, either suffered or indirectly benefited from herbivory. For all species, effects of nutrients on colonization depended on depth; usually both nutrient and herbivory effects were more pronounced at the shallow depth. We conclude that grazers are able to reduce macroalgae over a large range of nutrient availabilities, up to 12-fold nutrient enrichment in the current experiment, and that the sublittoral depth gradient generates variation in the algal community control exerted by both herbivory and nutrient availability. Thus temporal and spatial variability in both top-down and bottom-up control and in their interaction, especially along the depth gradient, may be crucially important for producer diversity and for the successional dynamic in a rocky sublittoral environment.

We examined the development of coral reef science and the policies, institutions, and governance frameworks for management of coral reefs in China in order to highlight the wicked problem of preserving reefs while simultaneously promoting human development and nation building. China and other sovereign states in the region are experiencing unprecedented economic expansion, rapid population growth, mass migration, widespread coastal development, and loss of habitat. We analyzed a large, fragmented literature on the condition of coral reefs in China and the disputed territories of the South China Sea. We found that coral abundance has declined by at least 80% over the past 30 years on coastal fringing reefs along the Chinese mainland and adjoining Hainan Island. On offshore atolls and archipelagos claimed by 6 countries in the South China Sea, coral cover has declined from an average of >60% to around 20% within the past 10-15 years. Climate change has affected these reefs far less than coastal development, pollution, overfishing, and destructive fishing practices. Ironically, these widespread declines in the condition of reefs are unfolding as China's research and reef-management capacity are rapidly expanding. Before the loss of corals becomes irreversible, governance of China's coastal reefs could be improved by increasing public awareness of declining ecosystem services, by providing financial support for training of reef scientists and managers, by improving monitoring of coral reef dynamics and condition to better inform policy development, and by enforcing existing regulations that could protect coral reefs. In the South China Sea, changes in policy and legal frameworks, refinement of governance structures, and cooperation among neighboring countries are urgently needed to develop cooperative management of contested offshore reefs.© 2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

造礁石珊瑚是珊瑚礁框架建造者, 具有维持珊瑚礁生态系统功能和稳定性的重要作用, 其分类对于造礁石珊瑚和珊瑚礁的研究与保护至关重要。目前, 随着分子系统学的不断发展, 造礁石珊瑚的分类体系发生改变, 伴随着出现大量同物异名。近年来也出现许多无中文学名的中国造礁石珊瑚新记录种, 这些都给物种认定和命名带来困难, 阻碍了中国造礁石珊瑚的研究与保护工作。为此, 本文收集了中国造礁石珊瑚物种记录文献资料, 采用最新的造礁石珊瑚分类体系, 确认同物异名, 形成中国造礁石珊瑚物种名录, 并对中国造礁石珊瑚物种的中文名进行统一的规范和命名。结果表明, 中国共有造礁石珊瑚2个类群16科77属445种。与《中国动物志·腔肠动物门·珊瑚虫纲·石珊瑚目·造礁石珊瑚》相比, 科级分类阶元新增7个科, 变更5个科; 属级分类阶元新增26属, 变更1属, 合并3属; 种级分类阶元新增291种, 变更13种, 合并20种, 新命名305个物种的中文名。并且筛选出187个同物异名。此外, 由于造礁石珊瑚分类体系现仍有部分争议, 文章也进行了讨论说明。

As the major reef framework builder, hermatypic corals play a key role in maintaining the stability and function of coral reef ecosystems. Understanding the taxonomy of hermatypic corals is critical to furthering research and conservation of reef corals and the ecosystem they construct. The application of molecular and small-scale morphological analyses has identified synonymous species and have challenged the traditional taxonomy of hermatypic corals, which was based merely on skeletal morphology. Moreover, many newly recorded species appeared without Chinese scientific names. These aforementioned issues hinder the progress of research and conservation of hermatypic corals in China. Here, we present a comprehensive species list of all hermatypic corals reported in China by collecting historical records, incorporating revised systematics, confirming synonymous species, and updating Chinese scientific names. Our results show that there are 445 known species of hermatypic corals in China, belonging to 16 families and 77 genera. Compared to Fauna Sinica · Coelenterata · Anthozoa · Scleractinia · Hermatypic Coral, we added 291 species, revised 13 species, synonymized 20 species, and designated Chinese name to 305 species. We added 26, revised 1 and synonymized 3 genera, and we added 7 and revised 5 families. Though we identified 187 synonymous species from historical records, there are still several discrepancies in the current taxonomy. We discuss these discrepancies and explain our classification rationale herein.

Classifying the biological traits of organisms can test conceptual frameworks of life-history strategies and allow for predictions of how different species may respond to environmental disturbances. We apply a trait-based classification approach to a complex and threatened group of species, scleractinian corals. Using hierarchical clustering and random forests analyses, we identify up to four life-history strategies that appear globally consistent across 143 species of reef corals: competitive, weedy, stress-tolerant and generalist taxa, which are primarily separated by colony morphology, growth rate and reproductive mode. Documented shifts towards stress-tolerant, generalist and weedy species in coral reef communities are consistent with the expected responses of these life-history strategies. Our quantitative trait-based approach to classifying life-history strategies is objective, applicable to any taxa and a powerful tool that can be used to evaluate theories of community ecology and predict the impact of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on species assemblages.© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.