Hughes, T.P., Baird, A.H., Dinsdale, E.A., Moltschaniwskyj, Natalie, Pratchett, M.S., Tanner, J.E., and Willis, B.L. (1999) Patterns of recruitment and abundance of corals along the Great Barrier Reef. Nature, 397. pp. 59-63.

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Abstract

Different physical and biological processes prevail at different scales(1-4). As a consequence, small-scale experiments or local observations provide limited insights into regional or global phenomena(5-8). One solution is to incorporate spatial scale explicitly into the experimental and sampling design of field studies, to provide a broader, landscape view of ecology(1-8). Here we examine spatial patterns in corals on the Great Barrier Reef, across a spectrum of scales ranging from metres to more than 1,700 km. Our study is unusual because we explore large-scale patterns of a process (recruitment by juveniles) as well as patterns of adult abundance, revealing the relationship between the two. We show that coral-reef assemblages that are similar in terms of abundance may nonetheless show profound differences in dynamics and turnover, with major implications for their ecology, evolution and management.

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