title: A Trait-Based Approach to Advance Coral Reef Science.
abstract: Coral reefs are biologically diverse and ecologically complex ecosystems constructed by stony corals. Despite decades of research, basic coral population biology and community ecology questions remain. Quantifying trait variation among species can help resolve these questions, but progress has been hampered by a paucity of trait data for the many, often rare, species and by a reliance on nonquantitative approaches. Therefore, we propose filling data gaps by prioritizing traits that are easy to measure, estimating key traits for species with missing data, and identifying 'supertraits' that capture a large amount of variation for a range of biological and ecological processes. Such an approach can accelerate our understanding of coral ecology and our ability to protect critically threatened global ecosystems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. Electronic address: joshua.madin@mq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Joshua S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Madin
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia; College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Mia O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Hoogenboom
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia; College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Sean R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.affiliation: Marine Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY 10460, USA.
authors.forename: Emily S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Darling
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Falster
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences & Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
authors.forename: Danwei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Sally A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Keith
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mizerek
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pandolfi
authors.affiliation: University of Hawaii, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology 46-007 Lilipuna Rd, Kaneohe, HI 96744, USA.
authors.forename: Hollie M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Putnam
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Baird
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D057894:Coral Reefs; D004463:Ecology; D017753:Ecosystem; D010641:Phenotype