In line with contemporary changes in oceanic conditions, reef communities could be declining at the equator and expanding polewards, having previously happened in the past. Yet, some tropical organisms are now decimated at their distributional cores and observed beyond their inferred range limits. However, it remains unclear if this is happening at the community scale, especially due to the challenges of collecting quantitative and comparable data across latitudes. Here, we propose that monitoring sentinel plots via photogrammetry could help to assess abiding changes in benthic communities and trajectories of reef‐building populations across the Kuroshio region. We think that as oceans are becoming warmer, accretive reef communities may shift their distribution northwards which may be primarily due to a change in the relative biomass‐abundance of resident taxa. Consistent trends among latitudes will resolve the possibility of contraction or expansion of accretive reef communities, providing further insight into the variety of responses and dynamics observed across latitudes in the context of the Anthropocene.

中文翻译：

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意见书：跟踪黑潮地区增生性珊瑚群落的分布

与当代海洋状况的变化相一致，过去曾经发生过这种情况，珊瑚礁群落可能在赤道处下降，并向极地扩展。但是，现在某些热带生物在其分布核心被大量破坏，并被观测到超出其推断范围的极限。但是，目前尚不清楚这是否在社区范围内发生，特别是由于跨纬度收集定量和可比数据的挑战。在这里，我们建议通过摄影测量法监测前哨地块可以帮助评估黑潮地区底栖生物群落和珊瑚礁种群轨迹的持续变化。我们认为随着海洋变暖，增生性珊瑚群落可能向北转移，这可能主要是由于居民生物分类的相对生物量丰度发生了变化。纬度之间一致的趋势将解决增生性礁群落收缩或扩张的可能性，从而进一步了解人类世在整个纬度中观察到的各种响应和动态。