caa a22 4500 44581957X CHVBK 20180317145239.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00338-011-0794-7 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00338-011-0794-7 Assessing loss of coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef: A response to Hughes et al. (2011) [Elektronische Daten] [H. Sweatman, C. Syms] Hughes et al. (Coral Reefs, 2011, in press) challenge our interpretations of the changes in coral cover observed on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) between 1986 and 2004 (Sweatman et al. in Coral Reefs 30:521-531, 2011). They question whether we can accurately assign all causes of coral loss; we contend that this makes no difference to the observed changes. They defend the validity of historical data on coral cover from before the start of systematic large-scale monitoring and conclude that coral cover has been declining since at least 1960, but we find no trend in the early data. We remain convinced that combining data collected at different spatial scales (quadrats and transects in the past mixed with more recent whole-reef averages from manta tows) are likely to overestimate decline, because whole-reef averages will very rarely reach the high cover values that can occur at the quadrat scale. Hughes et al. (Coral Reefs, 2011, in press) state that we dismiss runoff as a cause of ecosystem degradation; we defend our interpretations and dispute some of their examples. In summary, we stand by our conclusion that coral cover on the GBR declined in the period 1986-2004 but through localised and unsynchronised changes that included recovery. Springer-Verlag, 2011 Coral cover nationallicence Meta-analyses nationallicence Great Barrier Reef nationallicence Degradation nationallicence Sweatman H. Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, 4810, Townsville MC, Qld, Australia aut Syms C. Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, 4810, Townsville MC, Qld, Australia aut Coral Reefs Springer-Verlag 30/3(2011-09-01), 661-664 0722-4028 30:3<661 2011 30 338 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-011-0794-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 review-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-011-0794-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Sweatman H. Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, 4810, Townsville MC, Qld, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Syms C. Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, 4810, Townsville MC, Qld, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Coral Reefs Springer-Verlag 30/3(2011-09-01), 661-664 0722-4028 30:3<661 2011 30 338 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer