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Crustose coralline algae (CCA) play a central role in coral reef framework consolidation and vertical accretion, yet their contribution to reef-scale calcification remains poorly quantified, particularly on reefs dominated by algal turfs. We examined how CCA calcification rates differed across ten reef sites with varying benthic composition around Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Using tiles from calcification acc...
Halos of herbivory, feeding-preference, and predation risk on contemporary Belizean reefsNARA Subscribed
Biotic interactions in marine ecosystems can create visible patterns on the benthos. An archetypal example of such a pattern is the conspicuous ‘halos’ (i.e., areas largely cleared of macrophytes) that surround many tropical reefs. While early ecological studies identified the role of herbivores and the predators that feed on them in the formation of halos on Caribbean reefs, recent evidence has highlighted the context-depende...
Conservation of marine biodiversity requires an understanding of the habitats needed to support and replenish species of interest. It also requires knowledge about the abundance and diversity of multispecies assemblages. Variation in the distribution and composition of kelp forests, one of the most productive marine coastal habitats globally, can have major influences on reef fishes—a group of ecologically and socioeconomicall...
Fish and invertebrate communities show greater day–night partitioning on tropical than temperate reefsNARA Subscribed
Diel partitioning of animals within ecological communities is widely acknowledged, yet rarely quantified. Investigation of most ecological patterns and processes involves convenient daylight sampling, with little consideration of the contributions of nocturnal taxa, particularly in marine environments. Here we assess diel partitioning of reef faunal assemblages at a continental scale utilizing paired day and night visual censu...
Endangered giant kelp forests support similar fish and macroinvertebrate communities to sympatric stipitate kelp forestsNARA Subscribed
Kelp forests provide habitat for many species, but it remains uncertain whether specific kelp forest types support distinct biodiversity. Surface canopy-forming giant kelp ( Macrocystis pyrifera ) forests in Tasmania, Australia, have declined significantly due to climate change, and have been widely replaced by forests dominated by smaller stipitate kelps like Ecklonia radiata . However, there is limited knowledge of the commu...
The Kelp Forest Challenge: A collaborative global movement to protect and restore 4 million hectares of kelp forestsNARA Subscribed
Marine kelp forests cover 1/3 of our world's coastlines, are heralded as a nature-based solution to address socio-environmental issues, connect hundreds of millions of people with the ocean, and support a rich web of biodiversity throughout our oceans. But they are increasingly threatened with some areas reporting over 90% declines in kelp forest cover in living memory. Despite their importance and the threats they face, kelp...
Common, low-frequency, rare, and ultra-rare coding variants contribute to COVID-19 severityNARA Subscribed
The combined impact of common and rare exonic variants in COVID-19 host genetics is currently insufficiently understood. Here, common and rare variants from whole-exome sequencing data of about 4000 SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals were used to define an interpretable machine-learning model for predicting COVID-19 severity. First, variants were converted into separate sets of Boolean features, depending on the absence or the pr...
Climate change poses significant emerging risks to biodiversity, ecosystem function and associated socioecological systems. Adaptation responses must be initiated in parallel with mitigation efforts, but resources are limited. As climate risks are not distributed equally across taxa, ecosystems and processes, strategic prioritization of research that addresses stakeholder‐relevant knowledge gaps will accelerate effective uptak...