Danielle Dixson and David Lecchini (IRCP) would like to draw your attention to a meeting session on: Larval recruitment facing global change in coral reefs (fish, coral, mollusks and crustacean) at the 13th International Coral Reef Symposium, which is being held 19-24 June 2016 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. We are both very excited to organize session 16 which focuses on the importance and impacts of larval recruitment to coral reefs in the context of global change. The information for the session can be found through this link.

*Abstract Deadline: 15 January 2016 *

C.Berthe

Topic of session: The replenishment and persistence of most marine species in coral reefs are contingent upon dispersing larvae finding and becoming established on a reef habitat. However, one of the great mysteries of marine ecology is how oceanic larvae locate the relatively rare patches of coral reef on to which they recruit. Moreover, some recent studies have shown that the decline in adult populations in degraded coral reefs was a reflection on larval recruitment failure rather than adult mortality, suggesting the “rescue” effect of recruitment may be ineffective in degraded habitats. Unfortunately, the mechanisms that determine how marine larvae respond to different stages of coral stress and the extent of coral loss during larval recruitment remain poorly understood. Marine larvae experience a major challenge when facing recruitment in a multi-threat environment, within which, using recruitment cues, they need to select a suitable habitat. Our session will aim to present recent research on larval recruitment in coral, fish, crustacean and mollusks facing global change. Overall, predicting how anthropogenic and natural changes will affect recruitment in coral reefs is important, as the larval dispersion between reefs is a key component of the population dynamics of reef organisms.

Expected audience, both in terms of size and discipline: One session is not restricted to only one taxa in coral reefs, but to coral, fish, crustacean and mollusks. Thus, many participants could be registered their abstract in our session. Moreover, the thematic of larval recruitment is one of the most studied since 1990s, after biodiversity and resilience in coral reefs. Lastly, we focus the thematic of larval recruitment facing global change. All these points will allow us to have many participants from different coral reef taxa and from different disciplines (ecology, behavior, biology of larval swimming abilities and larval sensory abilities, management with marine protected area, …) in our session.

Dr. Danielle DIXSON

School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware

11 Robinson Hall, Newark DE 19716 USA

email: danielle.dixson@gmail.com

Dr. David LECCHINI

CRIOBE, USR3278 CNRS-EPHE-UPVD, LabEx “CORAIL”

 98729 Moorea, French Polynesia

email: lecchini@univ-perp.fr