Integrated Niche Theory: linking environmental, compositional and functional change on coral reefs

Project Information

coralINT

Grant agreement ID: 101044975

DOI

10.3030/101044975

EC signature date 26 October 2022

Start date 1 November 2022

End date 31 October 2028

Funded under

• European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 999 995,00

EU contribution

€ 1 999 995,00

Coordinated by

FACULDADE DE CIENCIAS DA UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - coralINT (Integrated Niche Theory: linking environmental, compositional and functional change on coral reefs)

Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2025-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

There is potential for feedback loops whereby organisms, through their ecological function, engineer the environmental conditions they are then exposed to. Environmental conditions, in turn, affect organismal life histories and hence their function rates. Project coralINT aims to explore these loops by integrating three ecological niche concepts: the Grinellian niche (species resource and environmental needs), the Eltonian niche (species function), and niche construction (the effect species functions have on the environment). The project focuses on reef corals, a group of organisms that build highly complex structures, which harbour an extraordinary concentration of biodiversity and are known to be highly sensitive to change in environmental conditions. The project aims to use simultaneous estimates of species composition, environmental conditions and function, mapped with high precision on coral reefs to develop and test theory linking across the three niche concepts.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Over the course of the project we plan to map 100 plots of 100m2 each, revisiting each plot at least twice to quantify rates of change. A subset of 20 plots will be surveyed every year to provide a time series of over a decade by combining with previously existing data. So far, we have surveyed a total of 40 plots, 20 of which twice. In addition, the first phase of the project has focused on methodological innovation, with the aim to use novel sensors and approaches to estimate distributions of functional rates and environmental change. Finally, the theoretical component of the project has focused on formalizing and testing assumptions regarding relationships among organisms, and between structure and the environment.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Early results emerging from the project support the hypothesis that biological structures modify the environment in non-trivial ways. For example, increasing reef rugosity diversifies local light environments. Ongoing research expands the approach taken to other environmental variables. Moreover, ongoing work quantifies the implications of this microhabitat variation in terms of species distributions and spatial variation in ecological function.

Orthomosaics of the reef in 2023 and 2024 (the same reef as image004)

Field work activities

Orthomosaics of the reef in 2023 and 2024 (the same reef as image003)

Field work activities