Regional Decline of Coral Cover in the Indo-Pacific: Timing, Extent, and Subregional Comparisons

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000711
• Publication Date: 2007-08-07T23:10:34Z
• Authors: John F. Bruno; Elizabeth R. Selig
• Keywords: Indo-Pacific

A number of factors have recently caused mass coral mortality events in all the world's tropical oceans. However, little is known about timing, rate or spatial variability loss reef-building corals, especially Indo-Pacific, which contains 75% reefs.We compiled and analyzed a cover database 6001 quantitative surveys 2667 Indo-Pacific reefs performed between 1968 2004. Surveys conducted during 2003 indicated that averaged only 22.1% (95% CI: 20.7, 23.4) just 7 390 surveyed year had >60%. Estimated yearly based on annually pooled survey data was approximately 1% over last twenty years 2% 1997 (or 3,168 km(2) per year). The annual repeated measures regression analysis subset were monitored for multiple from to 2004 0.72 % (n = 476 reefs, 95% 0.36, 1.08).The extent are greater than expected. Coral also surprisingly uniform among subregions declined decades earlier previously assumed, even some Pacific's most intensely managed reefs. These results significant implications policy makers resource managers as they search successful models reverse loss.