COS 146-5 - Global decline in capacity of coral reefs to provide ecosystem services

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

11:00 AM – 11:15 AM EDT

Location: 513D

Presenting Author(s)

TE

Tyler Eddy

Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

Coauthor(s)

LV

Lam Vicky

University of British Columbia, Canada
GR

Gabriel Reygondeau

University of British Columbia, Canada
AC

Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor

Simon Fraser University, Canada
KG

Krista Greer

University of British Columbia, Canada
MP

Maria Palomares

University of British Columbia, Canada
JB

John Bruno

University of North Carolina, United States
YO

Yoshitaka Ota

University of Washington, United States
WC

William Cheung

University of British Columbia, Canada

Background/Question/Methods

Coral reefs are known to be important habitats for biodiversity and are particularly sensitive to climate change because marine heatwaves can cause bleaching events. Coral reef ecosystems are important for tropical and subtropical coastal communities, small-island developing states, and Indigenous peoples because they provide ecosystem services such as food provision, livelihood opportunities, carbon sequestration, and protection from storms. What is unknown is how global coral reef habitat and the capacity to provide ecosystem services has changed through time. We have derived global estimates of key ecosystem services provided by coral reefs: catches of coral-reef- associated fishes, abundance of coral-reef-associated fishes, coral-reef-associated biodiversity, and consumption of coral-reef-associated fishes by Indigenous peoples.

Results/Conclusions

Global coverage of living coral has declined by half since the 1950s. Catches of coral-reef-associated fishes peaked in 2002 and are in decline despite increasing fishing effort, and catch-per-unit effort has decreased by 60% since 1950. At least 63% of coral-reef-associated biodiversity has declined with loss of coral extent. With projected continued degradation of coral reefs and associated loss of biodiversity and fisheries catches, the well-being and sustainable coastal development of human communities that depend on coral reef ecosystem services are threatened. The capacity of coral reefs to provide ecosystem services that are relied on by millions of people worldwide has declined by half since the 1950s. This is the first estimate of this decline and demonstrate how at risk these services are. Achieving climate-change-emissions targets and reducing local impacts can reduce stress on coral reefs, allowing them and the ecosystem services that they provide to persist.