Reef fisheries underpin the economy, culture, and food security of Indo-Pacific island nations, yet many target species are depleted due to inadequate management. Despite its reputation as a regional leader in fisheries management, Palau has experienced declines among key reef fish species, necessitating a comprehensive stock status assessment amid ongoing discussions to lift the national export ban. Conventional stock assessm...

Biological systems occurring in ecologically heterogeneous and spatially discontinuous habitats provide an ideal opportunity to investigate the relative roles of neutral and selective factors in driving lineage diversification. The grey mangroves ( Avicennia marina ) of Arabia occur at the northern edge of the species' range and are subject to variable, often extreme, environmental conditions, as well as historic large fluctua...

Current seawater temperatures around the northeastern Arabian Peninsula resemble future global forecasts as temperatures > 35 °C are commonly observed in summer. To provide a more fundamental aim of understanding the structure of wild populations in extreme environmental conditions, we conducted a population genetic study of a widespread, regional endemic table coral species, Acropora downingi , across the northeastern Arabian...

Under projections of global climate change and other stressors, significant changes in the ecology, structure and function of coral reefs are predicted. Current management strategies tend to look to the past to set goals, focusing on halting declines and restoring baseline conditions. Here, we explore a complementary approach to decision making that is based on the anticipation of future changes in ecosystem state, function an...

Newly settled recruits typically suffer high mortality from disturbances, but rapid growth reduces their mortality once size‐escape thresholds are attained. Ocean acidification (OA) reduces the growth of recruiting benthic invertebrates, yet no direct effects on survivorship have been demonstrated. We tested whether the reduced growth of coral recruits caused by OA would increase their mortality by prolonging their vulnerabili...