ArticleScientific reports2020
Relative efficacy of three approaches to mitigate Crown-of-Thorns Starfish outbreaks on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Protection of coral reef fish delivers ecosystem-critical biocontrol of coral-eating starfish across the Great Barrier Reef.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Short- and long-term effects of culling invasive corallivorous gastropods.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Rates of Spawning and Mortality Using Contrasting Methods for Culling Pacific Crown-of-Thorns Starfish,Biology · 2025Article
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- eDNA confirms lower trophic interactions help to modulate population outbreaks of the notorious crown-of-thorns sea star.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
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- Chemosensory behaviour of juvenile crown-of-thorns sea star (Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Evaluating the effects of climate change and chemical, physical, and biological stressors on nearshore coral reefs: A case study in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.Integrated environmental assessment and management · 2024Article
- Protecting Great Barrier Reef resilience through effective management of crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks.PloS one · 2024Article
- Increasing densities of Pacific crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris) at Lizard Island, northern Great Barrier Reef, resolved using a novel survey method.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Crown of thorns starfish life-history traits contribute to outbreaks, a continuing concern for coral reefs.Emerging topics in life sciences · 2022Article
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- Sampling re-design increases power to detect change in the Great Barrier Reef's inshore water quality.PloS one · 2022Article
- Fish predators control outbreaks of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Large-scale interventions may delay decline of the Great Barrier Reef.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Homing behaviour by destructive crown-of-thorns starfish is triggered by local availability of coral prey.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- DNA-based identification of predators of the corallivorous Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris) from fish faeces and gut contents.Scientific reports · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Population outbreaks of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (COTS; Acanthaster spp.) are a major contributor to loss of hard coral throughout the Indo-Pacific. On Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR), management interventions have evolved over four COTS outbreaks to include: (1) manual COTS control, (2) Marine Protected Area (MPA) zoning, and, (3) water quality improvement. Here we evaluate the contribution of these three approaches to managing population outbreaks of COTS to minimize coral loss. Strategic manual control at sites reduced COTS numbers, including larger, more fecund and damaging individuals. Sustained reduction in COTS densities and improvements in hard coral cover at a site were achieved through repeated control visits. MPAs influenced initial COTS densities but only marginally influenced final hard coral cover following COTS control. Water quality improvement programs have achieved only marginal reductions in river nutrient loads delivered to the GBR and the study region. This, a subsequent COTS outbreak, and declining coral cover across the region suggest their contributions are negligible. These findings support manual control as the most direct, and only effective, means of reducing COTS densities and improving hard coral cover currently available at a site. We provide recommendations for improving control program effectiveness with application to supporting reef resilience across the Indo-Pacific.
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