The emergent role of small-bodied herbivores in pre-empting phase shifts on degraded coral reefs

coral reef ecology
Author

Kuempel and Altieri

Published

January 5, 2017

The published paper is available on-line.

We developed a series of field surveys and experiments to explore why algal growth was being surprised on coral reefs off the Caribbean coast of Panama. We found that the abundance of small-bodied herbivores was high enough to control algal growth and prevent algal dominance.

Caitie cleaning an herbivore exclusion experimental plot, credit Hannah Nelson

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