Biodiversity enhances coral growth, tissue survivorship, and suppression of macroalgae

Abstract

Coral reefs are declining dramatically and losing species richness, but the impact of declining biodiversity on coral well-being remains inadequately understood. Here, we demonstrate that lower coral species richness alone can suppress growth and survivorship of multiple species of corals ( Porites cylindrica, Pocillopora damicornis, and Acropora millepora) under field conditions on a degraded, macroalgal dominated reef. Our findings highlight the positive role of biodiversity in the function of coral reefs, and suggest that loss of coral species richness may trigger a negative feedback that causes further ecosystem decline.