bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.11.421867; this version posted December 11, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 Sea urchins, parrotfish and coral reefs in Grand Cayman, BWI: exemplar or outlier? 2 Elizabeth Sherman1 3 1 Natural Sciences, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont, 05201, USA 4 5 Corresponding Author: 6 Elizabeth Sherman1 7 2448 Main St., Manchester Ctr., VT, 05255, USA 8 Email address:
[email protected] 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.11.421867; this version posted December 11, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 24 ABSTRACT 25 The change in state of Caribbean coral reefs over the last 40 years has been characterized by 26 phase shifts from scleractinian coral cover to macroalgal cover, the loss of structural complexity 27 and a decline in biodiversity. Not only do scientists want to understand these changes, but also 28 predict the future of coral reefs and their capacity for resilience. In particular, the loss of 29 herbivory, due to declines in parrotfish and the sea urchin Diadema antillarum, has been 30 implicated in many studies as a proximate cause of the coral to macroalgal phase shift. However, 31 reports of the particular role of these putative herbivores have varied, with some studies claiming 32 a causal role for parrotfish, others for Diadema and still others suggesting no such relationships.