Ecosystem calcification and production in two Great Barrier Reef coral reefs : methodological challenges and environmental drivers

This thesis investigates the drivers of coral reef ecosystem metabolism and the abilities of the different methodologies and analytical approaches to accurately represent reef dynamics. It encompassed tracing natural nutrient additions through bird guano into a coral cay. Developing a new, automated system for measuring carbonate chemistry for coral reef metabolism and the effects of mass coral bleaching on ecosystem functioning were quantified. Overall, it showed that natural nutrient additions and bleaching differentially affect coral reef metabolism and that subtle differences in analytical methods, sampling approaches, and data interpretation techniques can cause significant variation in metabolic estimates.