Szmant, 1997:

"Quantitative aspects of nutrient dynamics on coral reefs are poorly understood. Gaining such understanding is critical since nutrification is a main anthropogenic threat to reef health. In some areas, nutrient sources impacting reefs are obvious, but for others we lack information on natural nutrient sources and processes, and confounding factors such as over-fishing or grazer die-offs make attribution much more difficult. We are in need of a more integrative understanding of the factors that regulate and affect nutrient dynamics on coral reefs. This paper presents a hypothesis regarding the importance of (1) habitat complexity and (2) intact trophic pathways to the nutrient flux rates tolerated by coral reefs ecosystems without major shifts in dominance from corals to algae. It predicts that coral reef communities have the ability to utilise and benefit from higher fluxes of nutrients than generally recognised, without changing to algal dominated systems, if (a) there is sufficient habitat complexity to provide shelter for large numbers of grazers and a diversity of consumers, and (b) the major trophic groups of fishes and invertebrates have not been impacted by fishing, disease or other disturbance. It further predicts that alterations in community and trophic structure that result from overfishing can result in generalised coral reef deterioration, that at times may be indistinguishable from increased nutrient supply." 

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Citation and/or URL

Szmant, A.M. 1997, Nutrient effects on coral reefs: A hypothesis on the importance of topographic and trophic complexity to reef nutrient dynamics, Proceedings of the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium, eds. H.A. Lessios & I.G. Macintyre, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, pp. 1527

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Caribbean

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