There is a consensus that Caribbean coral reefs are a pale shadow of what they once were, yet a reef’s pre-human state is typically assumed or estimated using space-for-time substitution approaches. These approaches may fail to account for past variation before human impact which could mislead conservation priorities and actions. In this study we use a suite of fossilised mid-Holocene (7.2-5.6 ka) fringing reefs in Caribbean Panama to define the Historical Range of Variation (HRV) in coral community structure before human-impact to provide context for the states of modern reefs in the same area. Using the abundances of coral taxa to quantify communities, we found that most of the modern coral communities exist in novel ecosystem states with no fossil precedence. We do however identify one modern reef that is indistinguishable in coral community structure from the mid-Holocene reefs. Reef-matrix cores show that the community on this reef has remained in a stable state for over 760 years, suggesting long-term resistance to the region-wide shift to novel states. Without historical context this robust and stable reef would be overlooked since it does not fulfil expectations of what a “pristine” coral reef should look like. This example illustrates how defining past variation using the fossil record can place modern degradation in historical context and improve conservation recommendations.

中文翻译：

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定义人类前生态系统的变化可以指导保护工作：以加勒比珊瑚礁为例

人们普遍认为，加勒比珊瑚礁曾经是一片苍白的阴影，但是通常使用时空替代方法来假定或估计珊瑚礁的人类前状态。这些方法可能无法解释人为影响之前的过去变化，这可能会误导保护重点和行动。在这项研究中，我们使用了加勒比巴拿马巴拿马的一组化石中全新世（7.2-5.6 ka）边缘礁石，在人类受到影响之前，定义了珊瑚群落结构的历史变异范围（HRV），为现代礁石的状况提供了背景信息在同一地区。利用丰富的珊瑚类群来量化群落，我们发现大多数现代珊瑚群落都存在于没有化石优先的新型生态系统状态中。但是，我们确实确定了一种现代珊瑚礁，其在珊瑚群落结构中与全新世珊瑚礁没有区别。珊瑚礁基质的核心表明，该礁石上的群落在超过760年的时间里一直保持稳定状态，这表明对该地区向新型州的转变有长期的抵抗力。如果没有历史背景，这个健壮而稳定的礁石将无法得到满足，因为它无法满足人们对“原始”珊瑚礁的外观的期望。该示例说明了如何使用化石记录来定义过去的变化如何将现代退化置于历史背景下并改善保护建议。没有历史背景，这个健壮而稳定的礁石将无法得到满足，因为它无法满足人们对“原始”珊瑚礁的外观的期望。该示例说明了如何使用化石记录来定义过去的变化如何将现代退化置于历史背景下并改善保护建议。没有历史背景，这个健壮而稳定的礁石将无法得到满足，因为它无法满足人们对“原始”珊瑚礁的外观的期望。该示例说明了如何使用化石记录来定义过去的变化如何将现代退化置于历史背景下并改善保护建议。