Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32255794›Full record

ArticlePloS one2020

Niche space of corals along the Florida reef tract.

Robert van Woesik, Lynnette M Roth, Elizabeth J Brown, Kelly R McCaffrey, Jacob R Roth

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Integrating fossil data in ecological niche models to improve predictions of future habitat of Caribbean corals.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Robert van WoesikInstitute for Global Ecology, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-1864-0263
Lynnette M RothInstitute for Global Ecology, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, United States of America.
Elizabeth J BrownInstitute for Global Ecology, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, United States of America.
Kelly R McCaffreyInstitute for Global Ecology, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, United States of America.
Jacob R RothIndependent Researcher, Merritt Island, Florida, United States of America.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Over the last three decades corals have declined precipitously in the Florida Keys. Their population decline has prompted restoration effort. Yet, little effort has been invested in understanding the contemporary niche spaces of coral species, which could assist in prioritizing conservation habitats. We sought to predict the probability of occurrence of 23 coral species, including the critically endangered Acropora cervicornis, using observations at 985 sites from 2011-2015. We ran boosted regression trees to evaluate the relationship between the presence of these corals and eight potential environmental predictors: (i) bathymetry (m), (ii) mean of daily sea surface temperature (SST) (°C), (iii) variance of SST (°C), (iv) range of SST (°C), (v) chlorophyll-a concentration (mg m3), (vi) turbidity (m-1), (vii) wave energy (kJ m-2), and (viii) distance from coast (km). The Marquesas and the lower and upper Florida Keys were predicted to support the most suitable habitats for the 23 coral species examined. A. cervicornis had one of the smallest areas of suitable habitat, which was limited to the lower and upper Florida Keys, the Dry Tortugas, and nearshore Broward-Miami reefs. The best environmental predictors of site occupancy of A. cervicornis were SST range (4-5°C) and turbidity (K490 between 0.15-0.25 m-1). Historically A. cervicornis was reported in clear oligotrophic waters, although the present results find the coral species surviving in nearshore turbid conditions. Nearshore, turbid reefs may shade corals during high-temperature events, and therefore nearshore reefs in south Florida may become important refuges for corals as the ocean temperatures continue to increase.

Indexed as

Animal DistributionCoral ReefsEnvironmental Restoration and RemediationAnimalsAnthozoaChlorophyll AEndangered SpeciesEnvironmental MonitoringFloridaHot TemperatureSeawaterChlorophyll A

Identifiers

PMID32255794
PMCPMC7138326

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.