Coral reef structural complexity provides important coastal protection from waves under rising sea levels
Daniel L. Harris
Alessio Rovere
Elisa Casella
Hannah Power
Remy Canavesio
Antoine Collin
Andrew Pomeroy
Jody M. Webster
Valeriano Parravicini
Abstract
Coral reefs are diverse ecosystems that support millions of people worldwide by providing coastal protection from waves. Climate change and human impacts are leading to degraded coral reefs and to rising sea levels, posing concerns for the protection of tropical coastal regions in the near future. We use a wave dissipation model calibrated with empirical wave data to calculate the future increase of back-reef wave height. We show that, in the near future, the structural complexity of coral reefs is more important than sea-level rise in determining the coastal protection provided by coral reefs from average waves. We also show that a significant increase in average wave heights could occur at present sea level if there is sustained degradation of benthic structural complexity. Our results highlight that maintaining the structural complexity of coral reefs is key to ensure coastal protection on tropical coastlines in the future.
Harris D.L., Rovere A., Casella E., Power H., Canavesio R., Collin A., Pomeroy A., Webster J.M. and Parravicini V. (2018) Coral reef structural complexity provides important coastal protection from waves under rising sea levels. Science Advances 4(2): eaao4350. 10.1126/sciadv.aao4350
@article{Harris2018,
Title = {Coral reef structural complexity provides important coastal protection from waves under rising sea levels},
Author = {Harris, Daniel L. and Rovere, Alessio and Casella, Elisa and Power, Hannah and Canavesio, Remy and Collin, Antoine and Pomeroy, Andrew and Webster, Jody M. and Parravicini, Valeriano},
Editor = {},
Journal = {Science Advances},
Year = {2018},
Pages = {eaao4350},
Volume = {4},
Doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aao4350},
Abstract = {Coral reefs are diverse ecosystems that support millions of people worldwide by providing coastal protection from waves. Climate change and human impacts are leading to degraded coral reefs and to rising sea levels, posing concerns for the protection of tropical coastal regions in the near future. We use a wave dissipation model calibrated with empirical wave data to calculate the future increase of back-reef wave height. We show that, in the near future, the structural complexity of coral reefs is more important than sea-level rise in determining the coastal protection provided by coral reefs from average waves. We also show that a significant increase in average wave heights could occur at present sea level if there is sustained degradation of benthic structural complexity. Our results highlight that maintaining the structural complexity of coral reefs is key to ensure coastal protection on tropical coastlines in the future.},
}
TY - JOUR
AU - Harris, Daniel L.
AU - Rovere, Alessio
AU - Casella, Elisa
AU - Power, Hannah
AU - Canavesio, Remy
AU - Collin, Antoine
AU - Pomeroy, Andrew
AU - Webster, Jody M.
AU - Parravicini, Valeriano
TI - Coral reef structural complexity provides important coastal protection from waves under rising sea levels
T2 - Science Advances
PY - 2018
SP - eaao4350
VL - 4
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aao4350
AB - Coral reefs are diverse ecosystems that support millions of people worldwide by providing coastal protection from waves. Climate change and human impacts are leading to degraded coral reefs and to rising sea levels, posing concerns for the protection of tropical coastal regions in the near future. We use a wave dissipation model calibrated with empirical wave data to calculate the future increase of back-reef wave height. We show that, in the near future, the structural complexity of coral reefs is more important than sea-level rise in determining the coastal protection provided by coral reefs from average waves. We also show that a significant increase in average wave heights could occur at present sea level if there is sustained degradation of benthic structural complexity. Our results highlight that maintaining the structural complexity of coral reefs is key to ensure coastal protection on tropical coastlines in the future.
ER -
