The Moorea Coral Reef LTER Site

Poster Number: 
188
Presenter/Primary Author: 
Russell Schmitt
Co-Authors: 
Sally J. Holbrook
Co-Authors: 
Robert C. Carpenter
Co-Authors: 
Peter J. Edmunds

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The Moorea Coral Reef (MCR) LTER site is the complex of coral reefs that surround the 60 km perimeter of Moorea in the Society Islands of French Polynesia.  Investigators participate in an interdisciplinary, decadal- and landscape-scale program that is increasing our understanding of the processes that modulate coral reef ecosystem function, shape community structure and diversity, and determine abundance and dynamics of constituent populations.  This is yielding insight into the response of coral reefs to a variety of perturbations that operate across different spatial and temporal scales.  The results are creating the capacity to forecast the response of coral reefs to environmental forcing, including climate change.  To achieve this vision, scientists at MCR are: (1) conducting a long-term observational program to measure decadal trends in reef biota and abiotic forcing functions, (2) undertaking observations and experiments to explore processes and events affecting the reef structure, function and dynamics, and (3) developing a suite of quantitative models to synthesize and generalize results.  Our framework stresses integration across levels of biological organization, building from the sub-organismal to the ecosystem levels.