Worldwide coral reef conditions continue to decline despite the valuable socioeconomic benefits of these ecosystems. There is growing recognition that quantifying reefs in terms reflecting what stakeholders value is vital for comparing inherent tradeoffs among coastal management decisions. Terrestrial sediment runoff ranks high as a stressor to coral reefs and is a key concern in Puerto Rico where reefs are among the most threatened in the Caribbean. This research aimed to identify the degree to which sediment runoff impacts production of coral reef ecosystem services and the potential for watershed management actions to improve these services. Ecosystem service production functions were applied to map and translate metrics of ecological reef condition into ecosystem service production under a gradient of increasing sediment delivery. We found that higher sediment delivery decreased provisioning of most ecosystem services, including ecosystem integrity, bioprospecting discovery, and reef-based recreational opportunities and fisheries production. However, shoreline protection and services with a strong contribution from non-reef habitats (e.g., mangroves, seagrasses) were higher in locations with high sediment delivery, although there was a strong inshore effect suggesting the influence of distance to shore, depth, and inshore habitats. Differences among services may indicate potential tradeoffs and the need to consider habitat connectivity, nursery habitat, accessibility, and sediment buffering. The relationships we have identified can be used to link stakeholder values to decision alternatives to ensure continued provisioning of these services and the well-being of communities.

中文翻译：

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将陆源沉积物的输送与珊瑚礁生态系统服务的下降联系起来。

尽管这些生态系统具有宝贵的社会经济效益，但全球珊瑚礁状况仍在继续下降。越来越多的人意识到，以反映利益相关者的价值观来量化珊瑚礁对于比较沿海管理决策之间的固有权衡至关重要。陆地沉积物径流是珊瑚礁的重要压力源，是波多黎各的主要关注点，在波多黎各，珊瑚礁是加勒比海受威胁最大的地区之一。这项研究旨在确定沉积物径流在多大程度上影响珊瑚礁生态系统服务的生产以及流域管理行动改善这些服务的潜力。应用生态系统服务生产功能来映射和将生态礁条件的度量标准转化为在沉积物输送增加的梯度下的生态系统服务生产。我们发现，较高的沉积物输送量会减少大多数生态系统服务的提供，包括生态系统完整性，生物勘探发现以及基于礁石的娱乐机会和渔业生产。但是，在沉积物输送量高的地区，非珊瑚礁栖息地（例如红树林，海草）对海岸线的保护和服务具有较高的贡献，尽管近海影响强烈，表明距离海岸，深度和近岸的影响栖息地。服务之间的差异可能表明潜在的权衡取舍，并且需要考虑栖息地的连通性，苗圃的栖息地，可及性和沉积物缓冲。