IFISC researchers uncover universal spatial patterns in coral reefs worldwide

• Researchers reveal universal spatial patterns in coral reefs, uncovering consistent ecological laws across diverse marine environments.
• These findings provide new insights into reef conservation and restoration by linking coral reef structures to mathematical principles.

A groundbreaking study published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography reveals that coral reefs across the globe exhibit universal spatial properties, including fractal geometries and consistent macroecological patterns, regardless of their geographical location. The research, conducted by a team from the Institute of Cross-disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC, UIB-CSIC) in collaboration with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), provides unprecedented insights into the structure and distribution of coral reefs on a global scale.

The study was possible due to the unique availability of a cartography of tropical coral reefs, the Allen Coral Atlas (ACA), based on satellite imagery from the Planet satellites, classified by Machine Learning using suitable groundthruth information. The team, formed by Àlex Giménez-Romero, Manuel A. Matías, and Carlos M. Duarte, compiled a comprehensive inventory of more than one and a half million individual shallow-water tropical coral reefs worldwide from the ACA, covering a total area of more than 50,000 km². "We've uncovered three universal laws common to all coral reef provinces," explains Àlex Giménez-Romero, lead author of the study. "The size-frequency distribution and inter-reef distance distribution follow power laws. This means that while most reefs are small, a few are exceptionally large, creating a predictable pattern that remains consistent across different regions".

Finding common scaling laws in coral provinces, corresponding to distanct areas subject to different environmental and hidrodynamic conditions was quite unexpected, as these are important drivers of coral reef development, raising questions about the mechanisms behing this universal behavior.

The researchers also demonstrated that coral reefs develop intricate fractal patterns. "We found that coral reefs have a perimeter fractal dimension" explains Giménez-Romero. "These fractal dimensions provide insights into the complexity and roughness of coral reef structures". Manuel Matías adds, "A perimeter fractal dimension of 1.3 indicates that coral reef boundaries are more complex than a smooth line (dimension 1) but less intricate than extremely convoluted coastlines (dimension 2). The surface fractal dimension of 1.6 suggests significant structural complexity, which appears to be crucial for supporting marine biodiversity.”

The study's findings have significant implications for coral reef conservation and restoration efforts. Understanding these universal spatial properties is crucial for quantifying the scale of effort required to conserve and restore these vital ecosystems, and should guide the morphology of restored corals. The team's analysis suggests that the observed patterns likely stem from highly conserved interactions among biological, physical, and chemical processes over geological timescales. This discovery opens new avenues for reef growth modeling, because the observed patterns should fulfill the observed universal behavior, and deepens our understanding of these complex ecosystems.

The research reveals that coral reefs tend to evolve from simple rounded shapes to more complex, elongated forms. "Our analysis suggests that as reefs grow, they develop increasingly intricate fractal structures", explains Giménez-Romero. "This evolution follows consistent mathematical patterns across different geographical locations”.

This research provides a new perspective on coral reef formations and their underlying mechanisms. It sets the stage for future studies to explore the factors driving these universal patterns and their implications for reef resilience in the face of global environmental changes. This study not only advances our scientific understanding of coral reef ecosystems but also provides valuable insights for policymakers and conservationists working to protect these critical marine habitats.

Global Ecology and Biogeography, 34, e13939 (2025). DOI: 10.1111/geb.13939

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