Coral Reefs - CALL FOR PAPERS: Functional studies on coral reefs: insights from a changing world

This issue will focus on the study of ecosystem functions (i.e. the movement or storage of energy or material) on coral reefs. The study of functions/processes on coral reefs provides a language that transcends time and space, allowing us to understand and compare reefs over evolutionary timescales, across biogeographic realms, and among taxonomic groups. Indeed, in a world that is changing fast, one of the primary challenges for coral reef scientists and managers is to sustain the functions that support these diverse ecosystems. While functions demonstrably matter, the questions remain: what are the key functions? how are they ecologically relevant? how have we altered them? and how can they be maintained in a changing world? In this special issue we welcome submissions that explore these questions regardless of the taxonomic group to which they apply. The goal is to highlight the value of functional studies as they apply to coral reefs incorporating everything from evolutionary origins, through functional morphology, functional biogeography and, finally, to functional ecology. Emphasis, however, will be placed on the direct study and quantification of functions, i.e. dynamic processes rather than the description of static patterns.   

Guest Editors:
David R. Bellwood
Robert P. Streit
Simon J. Brandl
Mike McWilliam
Helen F. Yan
Sterling B. Tebbett