A Demographic Analysis of Populations of a Mushroom Coral Exposed to Contrasting Levels of Disturbance

The rates of sexual and asexual recruitment were quantified over 3.5 years, in addition to the rates of growth, injury and survival of the different sizes and stages of polyps of Fungia fungites at Mainland and East Lewis reef in the Dampier Archipelago (see large thumbnail).

From this data, the rates of transition of polyps through their life cycle (vital rates) were obtained and incorporated into simple stage-structured matrix models that estimated the growth rates of the populations, their likelihood of approaching stability, and the relative importance of different polyp stages to population maintenance.

本研究于3.5年的时间跨度内，不仅量化了丹皮尔群岛（Dampier Archipelago）主礁与东刘易斯礁上蕈珊瑚（Fungia fungites）的有性与无性补充速率，同时测定了该种群不同大小、不同发育阶段水螅体的生长、损伤与存活速率（详见大图缩略图）。
基于上述数据集，研究人员获取了水螅体整个生命周期的转换速率（即生命速率（vital rates）），并将其整合至简易阶段结构矩阵模型（stage-structured matrix model）中。该模型可估算种群增长率、种群趋近稳定的概率，以及不同水螅体阶段对种群维持的相对重要性。