Proximate environmental drivers of coral communities at Palmyra Atoll: establishing baselines prior to removing a WWII military causeway |
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Authors: | Williams Gareth J Knapp Ingrid S Maragos James E Davy Simon K |
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Institution: | a Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, La Jolla, CA 92083, USA b School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand c Pacific Reefs National Wildlife Refuge Complex, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 300 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96850, USA |
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Abstract: | A management proposal aims to partly remove a WWII military causeway at Palmyra Atoll to improve lagoon water circulation and alleviate sedimentation stress on the southeast backreef, an area of high coral cover and diversity. This action could result in a shift in sedimentation across reef sites. To provide management advice, we quantified the proximate environmental factors driving scleractinian coral cover and community patterns at Palmyra. The proportion of fine sedimentation was the optimal predictor of coral cover and changes in community structure, explaining 23.7% and 24.7% of the variation between sites, respectively. Scleractinian coral cover was negatively correlated with increases in fine sedimentation. Removing the causeway could negatively affect the Montipora corals that dominate the western reef terrace, as this genus was negatively correlated with levels of fine sedimentation. The tolerance limits of corals, and sediment re-distribution patterns, should be determined prior to complete removal of the causeway. |
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Keywords: | Sediment Coral communities Coral decline Military causeway Palmyra Atoll Central Pacific |
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