Adaptive Strategies in Reef-Building Corals
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ResearchOnline at James Cook University ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following work: Kuo, Chao-Yang (2017) Adaptive strategies in reef-building corals. PhD Thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: https://doi.org/10.25903/5bfb7e3342ccc Copyright © 2017 Chao-yang Kuo The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owners of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please email [email protected] Adaptive strategies in reef-building corals Thesis submitted by Chao-yang Kuo, MSc. in May 2017 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies James Cook University Townsville Queensland Australia Acknowledgements It has been a long and challenging but joyful journey and I am deeply grateful to my remarkable team of supervisors, Prof. Andrew Baird, Prof. Morgan Pratchett, and Prof. Terry Hughes, who have been tremendously supportive, and provided excellent guidance. Andrew thanks for your encouragement and giving me the freedom and independence to learn. I’m also very appreciative of your patience during this learning process. More than that, thanks for guiding me with your attitude, “Enjoy life”, which has been with me through all moments during this journey. Morgan, thanks for providing consistent support and guidance throughout lab meetings. Terry, thanks for giving me this opportunity to give the adaptive strategies approach in corals another shot, and your support before the 3MT competition. I also truly appreciate many other people who have helped me make this thesis possible, in their own ways. Numerous other academics have inspired and guided me along the way. Dr. Josh Madin, Prof. Chaolun Allen Chen, Dr. Vianney Denis, and Dr. Sung-yin Yang; thank you for sharing your expertise and experience, and guiding me to improve my work. Thank you Ciemon Caballes, Cheng-han Tsai, and Michael McWillian for discussing statistic and trait-approach issues with me. Thank you Liz Tynan, Kellie Johns, and Kylie Simmonds for guiding me through the language boundary and the 3 Minute Thesis Competition. Many thank Lisa Boström-Einarsson being my professional proofreader. Successful field-based research requires the participation of highly skilled and reliable team members because we, independent divers, are depended on each other in the field. Thank you to the “A” team members, Jessica Bouwmeester, Tom Bridge, Ed Robert, Anna Scott, Sally Keith, Mariana Álvarez-Noriega, Natalia Andrade, Andreas Dietzel, Mei-fang Lin, Tory Chase, Hugo Harrison, and Tullia Terranno. Also thanks for the research vessel James Kirby crew, Gerrard Topping and Patrick Bartlett, and Kalinda affordable charters crew, Dave Stewart, Chris Mirbach, and Gigi Torras, for the support in the field. Thank you for being my company exploring the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Without you, I would never have had the chance to collect this data set of species-level data from coral assemblages at three different depths on more than 30 reefs crossing the 1,800 km of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). More importantly, this might be the first and last species-level dataset collected while the coral assemblages on the GBR were still in reasonable condition before it got hammered by the back-to-back bleaching events in 2016 and 2017. i Logistics would not have been possible without help from the following people: the exceptional team, Jennifer Lappin, Janet Swanson, Rose-Marie Vasiljuk, Olga Bazarka, David Yellowlees, Vivian Doherty, and Alana Grech at the CoE for Coral Reef Studies; Phil Osmond, Glenn Ewels and Jane Webb at “Boating and Diving”, and Marta Espinheira at Orpheus Island Research Station. And to Andrew Norton and Brad King, the IT-heros taking care of my computer. Many thanks all the member from Coral Larval Ecology Lab: Vivian Cumbo, Joana Figueiredo, Miin Chua, Erika Woolsey, James Tan, Brigitte Sommer, Ed Thomas. You guys are amazing and very helpful. “¡Viva la Larva!” Besides the academic support mentioned above, daily life support was also equally important and was very much appreciated. The gang of the fantastic four, the big boss Diana Pazmino, the joyful Natalia Andrade, and the man always calm, Diego Ortiz, thanks for the support and company throughout this journey, and releasing the part of my soul that is Latin American. Thanks Vivian Lam for being my PhD buddy, supporting, cheering me up, and providing feedback on my work. Many thanks Colin Wen, James Tan, Kah Leng Cherh, Mei-fang Lin, Yan Xiang Ow, Meen Chee Hong, Kayan Ma, Boer Bao, Annie Chang, Wei Chi, Julia Yun-hsuan Hung, and Simon Hu for the support and sharing home style meals. I am also so grateful to have a group of inspiring friends to make life colourful and stylish: Emily Howells, David Abrego, Vera Horigue, Martina Prazeres, Chiara Pisapia, Sue Lim, Tessa Hempson, Blanche D’Anastasi, Karen Michelle Chong-Seng, Thomas Mannering, Jorge Alvarez Romero, Georgina Gurney, Jennifer Donelson, Greg Torda, Jessica Blythe, James Kerry, Andrew Hoey, Alejandra Hernandez, César Herrera, Roger Huerlimann, Heather Loxton, Maria Nayfa, Maximilian Hirschfeld, Vanessa Messmer, Kristen King (Anderson), Wiebke Wessels, Sylvain Foret, Catalina Aguilar-Hurtado, Jeroen van de Water, Maria Del Mar Palacios, Kirsty Nash, Adriana Chacón, Adrian Arias, Rafael Magris, Nicolás Younes, Estefania Erazo-Mera, Sandra Infante, Santiago Calero, Lucia Lasso, Salomé Maldonado, Wing Chan, Steve Doo, and Carynn Chen. I am very appreciated the support from all of you. Last but not least, I would also thanks Tsung-Jung Wu and Juanhui Lin who send unconditional support and warm words across the ocean. To my family, I am so grateful having the unconditional support. To my brother, Chao-wei, thank you for taking care and be around with parents that I can trace corals along the Great Barrier Reefs. Thank you. On the top of everyone, thanks Matsu for your bless and help making this dream come true. 27 April 2017 ii Statement on the contribution of others This thesis includes collaborative work with my supervisors, Prof. Andrew Baird, Morgan S. Pratchett and Terry Hughes, as well as Dr. Joshua Madin. All chapters are at different stages of preparation for submission to peer-reviewed journals. The author contributions of each chapter are outlined below. The manuscript based on Chapter 2 will be a collaboration with Andrew H. Baird (AHB), Morgan S. Pratchett (MSP) and Joshua S. Madin (JSM). Statistical analyses were performed by CYK under the supervision of AHB, JSM and MSP. All authors will contribute to writing the manuscript. The manuscript based on Chapter 3 will be a collaboration with AHB, Dr. Paul A. Marshall (PAM), MSP and JSM. The field survey was designed by AHB and PAM and conducted by AHB, PAM, MSP and CYK. Statistical analyses were performed by CYK under the supervision of AHB and JSM. All authors will contribute to writing the manuscript. Dr. Sally Keith (SK) was the volunteer for the fieldwork. The manuscript based on Chapter 4 will be a collaboration with AHB and JSM. The field survey was designed by CYK and conducted by CYK and AHB. Statistical analyses were performed by CYK under the supervision of AHB and JSM. All authors will contribute to writing the manuscript. The proof-reading of the thesis was conducted by Lisa Boström-Einarsson. Fieldwork was funded by ARC grants to AHB. The James Cook University Postgraduate Research Scholarship (JCUPRS) and ARC grants to AHB provided stipend and tuition support. iii Contribution of authors to publications Publication Contribution Author Madin et al. 2016 Conceived the idea, compiled the Joshua S. Madin and Andrew H. Baird preliminary data. Compiled, entered and edited trait data and jointly wrote the data descriptor Compiled the preliminary data Marcela Diaz Compiled, entered and edited trait Joshua S. Madin, Kristen D. Anderson, data and jointly wrote the data Magnus Heide Andreasen, Tom C.L. descriptor Bridge, Stephen D. Cairns, Sean R. Connolly, Emily S. Darling, Marcela Diaz, Daniel S. Falster, Erik C. Franklin, Ruth D. Gates, Mia O. Hoogenboom, Danwei Huang, Sally A. Keith, Matthew A. Kosnik, Chao- Yang Kuo, Janice M. Lough, Catherine E. Lovelock, Osmar Luiz, Julieta Martinelli. Toni Mizerek, John M. Pandolfi, Xavier Pochon, Morgan S. Pratchett, Hollie M. Putnam, T. Edward Roberts, Michael Stat, Carden C. Wallace, Elizabeth Widman, and Andrew H. Baird *Please see Appendix C for full publication iv Publication Contribution Author Hughes et al. 2017 First draft Terry Hughes Arial survey in 1998 and 2002 Russell C. Babcock and David R. Wachenfeld Arial survey in 2016 James T. Kerry, Terry Hughes, and Tristan Simpson Coordinated data compilation, James T. Kerry analysis and graphics Underwater survey Mariana Álvarez-Noriega, Andrew H. Baird, David R. Bellwood, Maria Byrne, Neal E. Cantin, Chao-yang Kuo, Guillermo Diaz- Pulido, Andrew S. Hoey, Mia O. Hoogenboom, Emma V. Kennedy, Michael J. McWilliam, Rachel J. Pears, Morgan S. Pratchett, Gergely Torda, Bette L. Willis, Tom C. Bridge, Hugo B. Harrison, Maria Byrne, Ian R. Butler, Russell C. Babcock, Steven J. Dalton, Will F. Figueira, Hamish A. Malcolm, John M. Pandolfi, Brigitte Sommer, Russell C. Babcock, Steeve Comeau, James P. Gilmour, Jean-Paul A. Hobbs, Malcolm T. McCulloch, Verena Schoepf, and Shaun K. Wilson. Analysis matching satellite data Jorge G. Álvarez-Romero, Sean R. Connolly, to the bleaching footprints on the C. Mark Eakin, Scott F. Heron, Gang Liu, Great Barrier Reef. Janice M. Lough, and William J. Skirving *Please see Appendix C for full publication v Abstract One of the major goals of ecology is to identify metrics of assemblage structure that are easy to obtain and that enable accurate predictions of how assemblages respond to disturbance and environmental change.