A Trait-Based Approach to Advance Coral Reef Science

Coral reefs are biologically diverse and ecologically complex ecosystems constructed by stony corals. Despite decades of research, basic coral population biology and community ecology questions remain. Quantifying trait variation among species can help resolve these questions, but progress has been hampered by a paucity of trait data for the many, often rare, species and by a reliance on nonquantitative approaches. Therefore, we propose filling data gaps by prioritizing traits that are easy to measure, estimating key traits for species with missing data, and identifying ‘supertraits’ that capture a large amount of variation for a range of biological and ecological processes. Such an approach can accelerate our understanding of coral ecology and our ability to protect critically threatened global ecosystems. Characterizing trait variation between species helps quantify fundamental biological, ecological, and evolutionary processes. Hampered by a paucity of trait data, novel approaches are needed to fill data gaps by prioritizing traits that are easy to measure. ‘Supertraits’ capture a large amount of process variation. Their discovery will accelerate understanding of coral ecology and our ability to protect a critically threatened global ecosystem.