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Sea-level rise (SLR) is predicted to elevate water depths above coral reefs and to increase coastal wave exposure asecological degradation limits vertical reef growth, but projections lack data on interactions between local rates of reefgrowth and sea level rise. Here we calculate the vertical growth potential of more than 200 tropical western Atlanticand Indian Ocean reefs, and compare these against recent and projected rates of SLR under different RepresentativeConcentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios. Although many reefs retain accretion rates close to recent SLR trends, few willhave the capacity to track SLR projections under RCP4.5 scenarios without sustained ecological recovery, and underRCP8.5 scenarios most reefs are predicted to experience mean water depth increases of more than 0.5 m by 2100. Coralcover strongly predicts reef capacity to track SLR, but threshold cover levels that will be necessary to prevent submergenceare well above those observed on most reefs. Urgent action is thus needed to mitigate climate, sea-level and futureecological changes in order to limit the magnitude of future reef submergence.

Marine ecosystems are in decline. New transformational changes in governance are urgently required to cope with overfishing, pollution, global changes, and other drivers of degradation. Here we explore social, political, and ecological aspects of a transformation in governance of Chile's coastal marine resources, from 1980 to today. Critical elements in the initial preparatory phase of the transformation were (i) recognition of the depletion of resource stocks, (ii) scientific knowledge on the ecology and resilience of targeted species and their role in ecosystem dynamics, and (iii) demonstration-scale experimental trials, building on smaller-scale scientific experiments, which identified new management pathways. The trials improved cooperation among scientists and fishers, integrating knowledge and establishing trust. Political turbulence and resource stock collapse provided a window of opportunity that triggered the transformation, supported by new enabling legislation. Essential elements to navigate this transformation were the ability to network knowledge from the local level to influence the decision-making processes at the national level, and a preexisting social network of fishers that provided political leverage through a national confederation of artisanal fishing collectives. The resultant governance scheme includes a revolutionary national system of marine tenure that allocates user rights and responsibilities to fisher collectives. Although fine tuning is necessary to build resilience of this new regime, this transformation has improved the sustainability of the interconnected social-ecological system. Our analysis of how this transformation unfolded provides insights into how the Chilean system could be further developed and identifies generalized pathways for improved governance of marine resources around the world.

A little-known, but ecologically important non-geniculate coralline, LitIhothamnion prolifer, is recorded from a number of tropical Indo-Pacific sites, including Fiji, Australia, Kiribati and Indonesia. The species occurs primarily on vertical walls of caves and overhangs in Fiji and Australia, but was also found as rhodoliths in Kiribati. LitIhothamnion prolifer is characterized by the combination of characters which follow. The thallus is extremely glossy, smooth, and rosy coloured. Thalli usually produce complanate protuberances, but protuberances become terete when growing on well lit, horizontal substrata, when unattached, or when growing on loose substrata. Conceptacles occur mainly on the tips of protuberances, and tetra/bisporangial conceptacles are large (to 1300 µm external diameter, with chambers up to 1100 µm diameter). The tetra/bisporangial conceptacles are flush or only slightly raised, and often extensive and irregularly shaped (resembling small son). They lack a raised rim, and have flattened pore plates. The rosette cells surrounding the tetra/bisporang ial pore appear somewhat sunken below the surrounding roof cells in SEM, and the cells of filaments lining the pore canals of let tetra/bisporangial conceptacles do not differ from the cells of filaments making up the rest of the roof. Old conceptacles persist and become buried in the thallus, and are then usually completely filled in by irregularly arranged calcified cells.