Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42904288›Full record

ArticleRoyal Society open science2026

The paradox of neutral carbonate budgets on coral-dominated reefs.

Elizabeth Cabrera-Rivera, Didier de Bakker, Ana L Molina-Hernández, Francisco Medellín-Maldonado, Rodolfo Rioja-Nieto, Alexis E Medina Valmaseda, Esmeralda Pérez-Cervantes, Chris T Perry, Lorenzo Álvarez-Filip

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Royal Society open science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing 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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

9 authors.

Elizabeth Cabrera-RiveraBiodiversity and Reef Conservation Laboratory, Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, México.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0513-0918
Didier de BakkerGeography, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2188-6827
Ana L Molina-HernándezBiodiversity and Reef Conservation Laboratory, Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, México.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0581-441X
Francisco Medellín-MaldonadoBiodiversity and Reef Conservation Laboratory, Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, México.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0624-0394
Rodolfo Rioja-NietoLaboratorio de Análisis Espacial de Zonas Costeras, Unidad Multidisciplinaria de Docencia e Investigación-Sisal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mérida, Yucatán, México.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4854-7120
Alexis E Medina ValmasedaBiodiversity and Reef Conservation Laboratory, Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, México.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3832-2972
Esmeralda Pérez-CervantesBiodiversity and Reef Conservation Laboratory, Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, México.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4244-9004
Chris T PerryGeography, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9398-2418
Lorenzo Álvarez-FilipBiodiversity and Reef Conservation Laboratory, Unidad Académica de Sistemas Arrecifales, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Puerto Morelos, México.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5726-7238

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Coral reefs deliver vital services via a complex three-dimensional framework sustained by the balance between calcium carbonate production and erosion, or the net carbonate budget state. In many tropical western Atlantic reefs, ecological decline has reduced carbonate production, yielding near-neutral or negative budgets. Yet some reefs retain high coral cover and, theoretically, should also have high net positive budgets, yet often show modest carbonate accumulation. We used the remote reef of Cayo Arenas in the Campeche Bank, Gulf of Mexico, to test whether in reefs under suboptimal (variable) environmental conditions, high coral production is offset by robust bioeroder communities, producing neutral budgets. At 14 sites, we quantified carbonate producers and bioeroders to estimate gross production, bioerosion and net budget states. Despite relatively high live coral cover, mean net carbonate budgets did not differ significantly from a neutral (zero) state, despite a positive net budget (0.7 ± 0.5 SE kg CaCO

Indexed as

bioerosioncarbonate budgetparrotfishreef accretionsea urchinsthermal variability

Identifiers

PMID42904288
PMCPMC13682876

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.