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Spatial variation in the dynamics and synchrony of coral reef communities in the US Virgin Islands

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Abstract

Most tropical coral reefs are experiencing declining coral cover, yet interpretation of this generality is tempered by spatial variation in coral cover among reefs separated over 20–200 km. This study addresses such landscape scale variation in coral reefs at 12 sites (7–10 m depth) around St. John (18° 18´ 37.04 N, 63° 43´ 23.17 W) and St. Thomas (18° 20´ 43.57 N, 65° 55´ 13.88 W), US Virgin Islands. Surveys completed from 2011 to 2021 were used to test for spatial variation in community dynamics among islands, shores, and sites. Community synchrony (φ) was used to evaluate portfolio effects in mediating changes in coral communities. From 2011 to 2021, changes in benthic communities differed among sites and times (i.e., there were site × year interactions), and, while coral cover declined at 11 sites, the decline was 2.6-fold faster around St. Thomas than St. John. The loss of coral cover was driven by multiple taxa that differed among sites, thus revealing asynchronous responses to prevailing conditions. Asynchrony suggests that coral communities at some of the sites have the capacity to exploit portfolio effects to modulate stability, yet these effects did not prevent declines in coral cover that reflect island-scale phenomena. In the US Virgin Islands, coral death is overwhelming the capacity for resilience of coral communities that historically may have benefitted from portfolio effects. Until coral assemblages are depleted through taxonomic extirpation, maintenance of the assemblage composition retains the possibility that increased resilience might emerge if environmental challenges can be alleviated.

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Data availability

The data for this project are hosted at http://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/872285 and can be accessed using https://doi.org/10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.872285.1.

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Acknowledgements

PJE thanks N. Bean, J. Girard, and E. Lenz for assistance with fieldwork, and V. Powell and S. Prosterman for logistical support in St. John. This is contribution number 368 of the CSUN marine biology program, and contribution number 245 from the Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, University of the Virgin Islands.

Funding

This research was funded by the US National Science Foundation (OCE 20–19992).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, CA, 91330-8303, USA

    Peter J. Edmunds

  2. Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, University of the Virgin Islands, 2 John Brewers Bay, St. Thomas, VI, 00802, USA

    Tyler B. Smith

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PJE designed, implemented and analyzed the study and completed the first draft of the manuscript; PJE and TBS collaborated on interpreting the data, develo** the summary statements, and editing the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Peter J. Edmunds.

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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed (no animals were manipulated or sampled in this research). Research was completed under research permits issued through the Virgin Islands National Park (VIIS-2021_SCI-0001).

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Edmunds, P.J., Smith, T.B. Spatial variation in the dynamics and synchrony of coral reef communities in the US Virgin Islands. Mar Biol 169, 60 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-022-04048-5

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