THE IMPACTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC GLOBAL CHANGE AND LOCAL HUMAN ACTIVITIES ON REEF-BUILDING CORALS ON THE BELIZE MESOAMERICAN BARRIER REEF SYSTEM ...
Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and important ecosystems on earth, yet they are experiencing global scale declines in coral cover, diversity, and ecosystem health due to the impacts of climate change, ocean acidification, and local human impacts such as land-use change, overfishing, and pol...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | unknown |
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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
2018
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.17615/sga6-wf93 https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/tx31qp29v |
| Summary: | Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and important ecosystems on earth, yet they are experiencing global scale declines in coral cover, diversity, and ecosystem health due to the impacts of climate change, ocean acidification, and local human impacts such as land-use change, overfishing, and pollution. This dissertation explores the impacts of thermal history on coral community composition (Chp 1), coral-associated Symbiodinium community structure (Chp 2), coral growth rates (Chp 3), and the acclimatization and/or local adaptation capacity of Sidereastrea siderea and Pseudodiploria strigosa corals (Chp 4) on the Belize Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (MBRS). The Belize MBRS can be subdivided into three distinct thermal regimes following a nearshore-offshore gradient of warmer and more thermally variable to cooler and less thermally variable seawaters. Nearshore reefs (warmer and more thermally variable) experienced lower coral cover and diversity and that weedy and stress-tolerant coral species ... |
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