The Present and Future Status of Ecosystem Services for Coral Reefs

Coral reef ecosystems are among the most imperiled globally from human impacts. They are also the most biodiverse marine ecosystems and play a vital role in the food and livelihood security of tens of millions of people. Although the ecological and socioeconomic importance of coral reefs has been relatively well-documented, the impacts of coral reef degradation on ecosystem service provisioning are less known. Here, we review the range of ecosystem services currently provided by reefs (provisioning, regulating, and cultural), the human activities that currently threaten these services, and the future prospects of reef ecosystem services given the projected combined effects of local human disturbances and climate change. We then propose promising policy and management interventions to promote the maintenance of key coral reef ecosystem services into the future.