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| Titel |
Uncovering the connectivity of coral reef systems via Lagrangian Coherent Structures |
| VerfasserIn |
Matthieu Leclair, Ryan Lowe, Zhenlin Zang, Gregory Ivey, Thomas Peacock |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2015
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 17 (2015) |
| Datensatznummer |
250106650
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2015-6327.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| There has been a staggering decline in the health of coral reef ecosystems worldwide over the past
century, driven by anthropogenic influences, natural processes, and overall climate change. The
future of coral reefs depends largely on their ability to recover from catastrophic events, which in
turn crucially relies on the ability of reef larval populations to supply and restore damaged
reefs. Improving quantitative predictions of reef larval transport and connectivity has thus emerged
as a high priority research area in coral reef science. Ocean circulation models are being
increasingly utilized in conjunction with particle tracking methods to provide spatially explicit
predictions of larval transport within reef systems. The current major drawback of this approach is
that it does not elucidate the underlying yet dynamic flow structures that drive reef
connectivity. Recently, however, novel Lagrangian-based analysis approaches have been developed to
identify the hidden coherent structures that govern material transport in spatiotemporally complex
flow fields. Here we apply these methods to investigate the connectivity within a complex coral reef
system, using the UNESCO World Heritage Ningaloo Reef in Australia as a case study. Our study
demonstrates how this new approach identifies the dominant flow structures present on the reef,
thereby uncovering connectivity and advocating a new practical framework for investigating and
understanding how ocean processes shape the ecological transport in and around coral reefs. The
technique can prove particularly valuable in supporting the design of Marine Protected Areas that
are intended to safeguard the future of coral reefs and other ocean ecosystems. |
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