Reef ecosystems are complex, three-dimensional marine habitats, typically structured by biogenic reef-builders such as scleractinian corals, coralline algae, or oysters, that support highly diverse, spatially structured communities of microorganisms, algae, invertebrates, and vertebrates. They are characterized by strong environmental gradients (light, nutrients, hydrodynamics), tight biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and intricate trophic networks linking primary producers, detritivores, and higher consumers. Research on reef ecosystems focuses on processes such as calcification, bioerosion, symbiosis (e.g., coral–Symbiodiniaceae associations), connectivity among reef patches, and responses to stressors including warming, acidification, eutrophication, and overfishing, with implications for ecosystem resilience and regime shifts.
Restoring underwater kelp forests by culling overgrazing sea urchins would deliver significant financial benefits, a new study has found.
Ecology
Jul 1, 2025
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20
Groundwater input to coral reefs directly affects water chemistry and triggers a cascade of changes in the coastal ecosystem, according to a new study led by University of Hawaiʻi (UH) at Mānoa oceanographers. Freshwater ...
Ecology
Jun 27, 2025
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27
On occasion, it is of vital importance to consider how little we know about the spinning rock we all live on. Take coral reefs, for example. Given how much they've been studied, you'd think we've learned just about everything ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 24, 2025
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72
A recent study has established a predictive framework for identifying the source populations of Chondria tumulosa, a cryptogenic red macroalga that has been rapidly overtaking coral reef ecosystems in Hawai'i's Papahānaumokuākea ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 24, 2025
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16
Volcanic islands, such as the islands of Hawaii and the Caribbean, are surrounded by coral reefs that encircle an island in a labyrinthine, living ring. A coral reef is punctured at points by reef passes—wide channels that ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 20, 2025
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98
An international research team led by the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) with the participation of the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen has taken a close look at reefs worldwide ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 20, 2025
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67
Dr. Ella Vallelonga, from the University of Adelaide's Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, examined how reef conservation diving dissolves "human exceptionalism"—the idea that humans are separate from, or ...
Ecology
Jun 20, 2025
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16
A Florida State University ecology and evolutionary biologist has discovered that the reproductive methods of individual coral species play a crucial role in their ability to survive, and even thrive, amid a rapidly changing ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 19, 2025
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22
New research led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History sheds light on the ancient origins of biofluorescence in fishes and the range of brilliant colors involved in this biological phenomenon. Detailed in ...
Evolution
Jun 16, 2025
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171
The reef fish population in the Gulf is growing ahead of the 2025 red snapper season, according to the University of South Alabama's annual fish survey.
Ecology
Jun 13, 2025
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