What Evidence Exists on the Impacts of Chemicals Arising from Human Activity on Tropical Reef-Building Corals?
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Ouédraogo et al. Environ Evid (2020) 9:18 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-020-00203-x Environmental Evidence SYSTEMATIC MAP PROTOCOL Open Access What evidence exists on the impacts of chemicals arising from human activity on tropical reef-building corals? A systematic map protocol Dakis‑Yaoba Ouédraogo1* , Romain Sordello2, Sophie Brugneaux3, Karen Burga4, Christophe Calvayrac5,6, Magalie Castelin7, Isabelle Domart‑Coulon8, Christine Ferrier‑Pagès9, Mireille M. M. Guillaume10,11, Laetitia Hédouin11,12, Pascale Joannot13, Olivier Perceval14 and Yorick Reyjol2 Abstract Background: Tropical coral reefs cover ca. 0.1% of the Earth’s surface but host an outstanding biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services to millions of people living nearby. However, they are currently threatened by both local (e.g. nutrient enrichment and chemical pollution of coastal reefs, arising from poor land management, agriculture and industry) and global stressors (mainly seawater warming and acidifcation, i.e. climate change). Global and local stressors interact together in diferent ways, but the presence of one stressor often reduces the tolerance to additional stress. While global stressors cannot be halted by local actions, local stressors can be reduced through ecosystem management, therefore minimizing the impact of climate change on reefs. To inform decision‑makers, we propose here to systematically map the evidence of impacts of chemicals arising from anthropogenic activities on tropical reef‑building corals, which are the main engineer species of reef ecosystems. We aim to identify the combina‑ tions of chemical and coral responses that have attracted the most attention and for which evidence can be further summarized in a systematic review that will give practical information to decision‑makers. Methods: The systematic map will follow the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence Guidelines and Standards for Evidence Synthesis in Environmental Management. We will search the relevant literature using English terms com‑ bined in a tested search string in two publication databases (Web Of Science Core Collection and Scopus). The search string will combine terms describing the population (tropical reef‑building corals) and the exposure (chemicals). We will supplement this literature with some more obtained through search engines, specialist websites, and through a call to local stakeholders. Titles, abstracts, and full‑texts will then be successively screened using pre‑defned eligibility criteria. A list of pre‑defned variables will then be extracted from full‑texts. Finally, a database of all studies included in the map with coded metadata will be produced. The evidence will be described in a map report with text, fgures and tables, and a matrix showing the distribution and frequency of included study into types of exposure and types of outcomes will be computed to identify potential knowledge gaps and knowledge clusters. Keywords: Contamination, Hermatypic, Nutrients, Pollution, Scleractinian *Correspondence: [email protected]; dakis‑yaoba. Background [email protected] Tropical coral reefs cover ca. 0.1% of the Earth’s surface 1 Direction de l’Expertise, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), 75005 Paris, France but they host an outstanding biodiversity [1] and provide Full list of author information is available at the end of the article important ecosystem services to millions of people living © The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creat iveco mmons .org/publi cdoma in/ zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Ouédraogo et al. Environ Evid (2020) 9:18 Page 2 of 8 nearby [2, 3]. Despite their biological and economical assessed the major form of pollutants in reef waters, or importance, 75 percent of the world’s tropical coral reefs the major coral process(es) afected. are currently threatened by both local and global stress- In this paper, we thus present a protocol to system- ors [2, 4, 5]. Te prominent global threats are represented atically map the evidence related to the impacts of by seawater warming and acidifcation [6], while local chemicals arising from human activities on tropical reef- threats are mainly unsustainable and destructive devel- building corals. Such knowledge is essential for an efec- opment of coastal areas, excess sedimentation, overfsh- tive ecosystem management and coral reef protection. ing, as well as nutrient and chemical pollution arising from poor land management, agriculture and industry [7, Topic identifcation and stakeholder input 8]. Global and local stressors interact together in difer- In the French Overseas territories, coral reefs cover ent ways, but the presence of one stressor often reduces 2 14,280 km corresponding to 5% of world total coral reef the physiological tolerance of individuals to additional area [28]. France is hence the 4th country with the largest stresses. For example, corals are hyper-sensitive to sea- coral reef area in the world after Indonesia (18% of world water warming if they are already physiologically stressed total area), Australia (17%) and the Philippines (9%) [28], by poor water quality [9]. While global stressors cannot and therefore has substantial responsibility concerning be halted by local actions, local stressors can be reduced coral reef protection. Te French Ministry of Ecology has through ecosystem management, therefore largely mini- recently launched an assignment for a systematic review mizing the climate change impacts on reefs [10]. aiming to assess the impacts of chemicals and nutrients Te health of reef ecosystems is largely based on the on coral reefs in order to gather and analyse the existing health of their main engineer species, the reef building knowledge on this topic and fnd ways to improve coral corals, which are not only responsible for reef accre- reef protection and management at the national scale. tion, but also make three-dimensional structures serv- Te review team formulated the primary question of the ing as habitat and food for other reef organisms. Te vast review and its components, focusing on reef-building majority of such corals (hermatypic corals, sensu [11]) corals that are the main engineer species of reef ecosys- are colonial scleractinian corals (Cnidaria Hexacorallia) tems, and this was then approved by the French Ministry living in association with endosymbiotic dinofagellate of Ecology. Te French Ministry of Ecology, as well as the algae belonging to the Symbiodiniaceae family [12]. Sym- French Ministry for Overseas Territories are part of the bionts are key to the success of corals in oligotrophic reef steering committee of the project, and will therefore reg- waters as they transfer most of the photosynthetically- ularly follow the progress of the review. Because the topic acquired nutrients to the coral host for its own use [13, is very large (all chemicals and all types of coral response 14]. Tis association is however fragile. Many reviews should be considered) the frst step of this assignment have now made clear the fact that elevation in seawater is to produce a systematic map of the evidence. We will temperature above a certain threshold is the main factor thus be able to identify the combinations of chemicals responsible for the breakdown of the coral-algal sym- and coral responses that have been the most documented biosis also called coral bleaching (see for example [15]). and for which evidence can be further summarized in a As symbionts are the main nutritional source for corals, systematic review. prolonged bleaching condition may ultimately lead to coral death, and reduced reef health. Coral symbiosis is also largely impacted in coastal reefs by water pollution, Objective of the review which is a major threat per se [16], but also reduces coral Primary question resistance to thermal stress and acidifcation [17, 18]. Te primary question of this systematic map is: What According to the type of pollution, the host, the symbi- evidence exists on the impacts of chemicals arising from onts or both partners can be impacted, through reduced human activity on tropical reef-building corals? calcifcation or photosynthesis, enhanced bleaching or cellular damage, and reduced fecundity among other Components of the primary question damages [19–21]. Te efect of water pollution on cor- Te above primary question has the following key als is a vast subject, due to the many possible pollutants, elements: and interactions among pollutants or with other envi- ronmental stressors. While several reviews have focused Population: All tropical reef-building coral species on the subject (e.g. [22, 23]), they often tackled only one (hermatypic scleractinian species, Millepora sp., source of pollution or class of chemicals such as nutrients Heliopora sp. and Tubipora sp.). [24], herbicides [25], oil [26] or sunscreen ingredients Exposure: All natural, geogenic and synthetic chem- [27]. Also, none of these reviews are systematic and have icals coming from human activities. Ouédraogo et al. Environ Evid (2020) 9:18 Page 3 of 8 Comparator: Population not exposed to chemicals; Search string Population prior to chemical exposure; Population A scoping exercise in Web of Science Core Collection exposed to a diferent concentration of chemicals.