Cappo and Kelly, 2001: 

"The conventional 'coral reef paradigm' highlights nutrient trapping and recycling and close co-evolution of species in symbiotic and commensal relationships to accumulate biomass in otherwise nutrient-poor tropical oceans. This has encouraged a popular view of reefs as somewhat self-contained biological islands, which are linked through episodes of larval dispersal with other reef systems. Our conceptual model extends this to reflect current appreciation of the GBRWHA as a profoundly interconnected system in which the non-reef communities are important 'load bearing' elements in terms of the integrity and health of the larger system. The extent and nature of the seaward influence of human activities in the coastal plains and fringe are under study, but understanding is complicated by the nature and connectivity of natural disturbances. Clear gradients and links can readily be shown between biotypes, in 'places, processes, and protein,' but the strengths of these links and the implications of their disruptions are not yet sufficiently known to fully predict human impacts. Landscape-scale research and management of the GBRWHA is needed especially in poorly known 'inter-reef' and through the coastal fringe into the catchments."

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Citation and/or URL

Cappo, M. and Kelly, R., 2001, 'Connectivity in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area - An overview of pathways and processes', In, Oceanographic processes of coral reefs: physical and biological links in the Great Barrier Reef, Wolanski, E. ed., CRC Press, 161-187. 

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