Coral reefs: Conserving the evolutionary sources

The current worldwide degradation of coral reefs constitutes an international problem that calls for immediate attention. A multitude of conservation hotspots scattered over the circumtropical seas have been identified, but there has been no general agreement as to how to attack the problem. The major difficulty seems to be the lack of a priority system. Are some reefs more important than others? If so, where are they located and what needs to be done? Some reefs are located in areas where the biodiversity (species, genera, families) is exceptionally high and where there is evidence of past and present evolutionary production. These areas are called centres of origin and one is located in the Indo-Pacific Ocean and the other in the Atlantic. The Indo-Pacific centre, located in the East Indies Triangle, is considered to be the primary tropical center due to its broad geographic influence. The Atlantic centre, located in the southern Caribbean Sea, is considered a secondary centre because its influence is restricted to the tropical Atlantic. These centres, although occupying relatively small geographic areas, are evidently the source of dominant species that have played the major role in assembling coral reef communities across each ocean. The existence of the two centres permits one to realize that, in the coral reef environment, there is a geographical separation between process and pattern. Recognition of the separation will allow significant improvements in conservation planning. The evolutionary process in the centres must be protected in order to maintain the outlying diversity patterns.