Ecological Effects Of Climate Change On Regional Diversity Patterns Of Western Australian Reef Corals (2006)

The putative effects of global warming on living coral reefs are hotly debated, but no long-term modern data are available to gauge ecosystem response. Using a comparative approach for species distributions and community composition between living and adjacent fossil coral reefs found along the Western Australian coastline, I will determine the degree to which climatically-induced latitudinal range shifts in reef coral species influences the assembly and maintenance of reef coral communities. The research will use ecological data to broaden our ability to predict the magnitude and impact of range shifts on reef coral ecosystems during ongoing global warming.