11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

18-49
A Global Assessment Of The Threat Of Extinction For Reef-Building Corals
Kent CARPENTER* 1 , Suzanne LIVINGSTONE 1 , Muhammad ABRAR 2 , Greta AEBY 3 ,
Richard ARONSON 4 , Andy BRUCKNER 5 , Charles DELBEEK 6 , Lyndon DEVANTIER 7 ,
Graham EDGAR 8 , Alasdair EDWARDS 9 , Doug FENNER 10 , Hector GUZMAN 11 , Bert
HOEKSEMA 12 , Gregor HODGSON 13 , Danwei HUANG 14 , Ofri JOHAN 15 , Al LICUANAN 16 ,
Edward LOVELL 17 , Jennifer MOORE 18 , David OBURA 19 , Domingo OCHAVILLO 20 , Bill
PRECHT 21 , Miledel QUIBILAN 22 , Clarissa REBOTON 23 , Zoe RICHARDS 24 , Alex ROGERS 25 ,
Jonnell SANCIANGCO 1 , Anne SHEPPARD 26 , Charles SHEPPARD 26 , Jennifer SMITH 1 ,
Muhammad SYAHRIR 2 , Emre TURAK 27 , Ernesto WEIL 28 , Elizabeth WOOD 29 , Dana
ZEBROWSKI 1
1 Global Marine Species Assessment, IUCN - World Conservation Union, Norfolk, VA, 2 The
Indonesian Coral Reef Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia, 3 Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology,
Honolulu, HI, 4 Dauphin Island sea lab, Dauphin, AL, 5 NOAA, Boston, ME, 6 Waikiki Aquarium,
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 7 Australian Institute of Marine Science, Brisbane,
Australia, 8 Conservation International, Perth, Australia, 9 Newcastle University, Newcastle,
United Kingdom, 10 Dept Marine & Wildlife Resources, American Samoa, United States Minor
Outlying Islands, 11 Smithsonian Institute, Panama City, Panama, 12 Naturalis, Amsterdam,
Netherlands, 13 Reef Check, Los Angles, CA, 14 National University of Singapore, Singapore,
Malaysia, 15 Research Center for Aquaculture, Jakarta, Indonesia, 16 DeLa Salle University,
Manilla, Philippines, 17 University of the South Pacific, Fiji, Fiji, 18 NOAA, Tampa, FL,
19 CORDIO East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, 20 Reef Check Philippines, Manilla, Philippines, 21 Reef
Resources, Miami, FL, 22 Conservation International, Manilla, Philippines, 23 Marine Laboratory
Silliman University, Manilla, Philippines, 24 James Cook University, Townsvillle, Australia,
25 Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom, 26 University of
Warwick, Warwick, United Kingdom, 27 AIMS, Paris, France, 28 University of Puerto Rico,
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, 29 Marine Conservation Society, Peterbourgh, United Kingdom
The continuing decline and growing threat facing the world’s coral reefs motivated the IUCN
Species Survival Commission to conduct a series of workshops under the Global Marine Species
Assessment initiative to evaluate the zooxanthellate scleractinian coral species of the world
against the categories and criteria of the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species. This is the first
attempt to globally assess the threat of extinction for reef-building corals at the species level. A
high proportion of species were listed in threatened categories based on habitat decline of
recently destroyed and critically declining reefs and life history traits related to species
resilience to threats. In addition to habitat loss estimated from published reef assessments and
monitoring data, major threats were identified as bleaching, disease, acidification and other
climate-related phenomenon, coastal destruction, over-harvesting for the curio and aquarium
trade and other human disturbance. This global taxonomic group represents one of the richest
and most important ecosystems in the ocean, and the IUCN Red List assessment highlights that
the threat off loss of marine biodiversity is comparable to that of terrestrial environments.
Oral Mini-Symposium 18: Reef Status and Trends
162