Dynamics of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish and Coral Reef Health articles from across Nature Portfolio

Latest Research and News

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  Protection of coral reef fish delivers ecosystem-critical biocontrol of coral-eating starfish across the Great Barrier Reef

  While biological control (or biocontrol) is an established method for managing pest species in terrestrial systems, few successful applications have been reported for marine environments. Crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS, Acanthasterssp.) are...

  • Scott A. Condie
  • Diego R. Barneche
  • Daniela M. Ceccarelli

  Article Open access 28 November 2025 Nature Ecology & Evolution

• Transparent peer review coming to Nature Water

  Article 21 July 2025 Nature Water
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  Laboratory study on the relative predation rates of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) larvae by five fish species

  Crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) pose a significant threat to coral reefs due to their predatory habits and high reproductive capacity, often resulting in population surges and outbreaks. Although manual removal of adult starfish is currently the...

  • Litong Yang
  • Ying Zhang
  • Chang Chen

  Article Open access 04 July 2025 Scientific Reports
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  There is no six-year periodicity in tidal forcing

  • R. D. Ray
  • V. Viswanathan
  • B. F. Chao

  Article Open access 25 April 2025 Scientific Reports
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  Predator removals, trophic cascades and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish on coral reefs

  The removal of mesopredatory fishes by fishing may be a key factor driving outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish on coral reefs. Evidence for this idea has been derived from correlations between starfish densities and fishing pressure. However,...

  • Mark G. Meekan
  • Emily K. Lester
  • Diego R. Barneche

  Article Open access 26 February 2025 Communications Biology
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  Plastic-eating fungus caused doomsday^[2][3]

  • Emma Burnett

  Article 12 June 2024 Nature
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  Australian fairy circles and termite linyji are not caused by the same mechanism

  • Stephan Getzin
  • Hezi Yizhaq
  • Todd E. Erickson

  Article 02 January 2024 Nature Ecology & Evolution
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  Increasing densities of Pacific crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris) at Lizard Island, northern Great Barrier Reef, resolved using a novel survey method

  Recurrent population irruptions of Pacific crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS, Acanthaster cf. solaris) are among the foremost causes of coral mortality on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Early intervention during the initiation of new population...

  • Josie F. Chandler
  • Deborah Burn
  • Morgan S. Pratchett

  Article Open access 07 November 2023 Scientific Reports
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  Induction of larval settlement in crown-of-thorns starfish is not mediated by conspecific cues

  Population irruptions of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS; Acanthasterspp.) remain a major cause of coral reef degradation throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans and are inherently modulated by larval settlement and recruitment success. Gregarious...

  • Peter C. Doll
  • Sven Uthicke
  • Morgan S. Pratchett

  Article Open access 10 October 2023 Scientific Reports
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  Variable food alters responses of larval crown-of-thorns starfish to ocean warming but not acidification

  Phytoplankton abundance is decreasing and becoming more variable as the ocean climate changes. We examine how low, high, and variable phytoplankton food supply affected the survival, development, and growth of larval crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster...

  • Benjamin Mos
  • Naomi Mesic
  • Symon A. Dworjanyn

  Article Open access 14 June 2023 Communications Biology
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  Daily briefing: Europe ponders ‘no pay’ open-access publishing plan

  • Flora Graham

  Article 05 June 2023 Nature
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  Bright pink ocean and rare wildflower super bloom — February’s best science images

  • Emma Stoye

  Article 01 March 2023 Nature
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  Culling corallivores improves short-term coral recovery under bleaching scenarios

  Management of coral predators, corallivores, is recommended to improve coral cover on tropical coral reefs under projected increasing levels of accumulated thermal stress, but whether corallivore management can improve coral cover, which is...

  • Jacob G. D. Rogers
  • Éva E. Plagányi

  Article Open access 09 May 2022 Nature Communications
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  Fish predators control outbreaks of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish

  Outbreaks of corallivorous Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (CoTS, Acanthasterspp.) have caused persistent and widespread loss of coral cover across Indo-Pacific coral reefs. The potential drivers of these outbreaks have been debated for more than 50...

  • Frederieke J. Kroon
  • Diego R. Barneche
  • Michael J. Emslie

  Article Open access 08 December 2021 Nature Communications
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  How to help feed the world with 'Blue Foods'

  • Benjamin Thompson
  • Shamini Bundell

  Article 15 September 2021 Nature

• Shining a light on the peer review process

  Article 25 March 2021 Nature Computational Science
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  Relative efficacy of three approaches to mitigate Crown-of-Thorns Starfish outbreaks on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

  Population outbreaks of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (COTS; Acanthasterspp.) are a major contributor to loss of hard coral throughout the Indo-Pacific. On Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR), management interventions have evolved over four COTS...

  • David A. Westcott
  • Cameron S. Fletcher
  • Mary C. Bonin

  Article Open access 28 July 2020 Scientific Reports
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  DNA-based identification of predators of the corallivorous Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris) from fish faeces and gut contents

  The corallivorous Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (CoTS, Acanthasterspp.) has been linked with the widespread loss of scleractinian coral cover on Indo-Pacific reefs during periodic population outbreaks. Here, we re-examine CoTS consumption by coral reef...

  • Frederieke J. Kroon
  • Carine D. Lefèvre
  • David A. Westcott

  Article Open access 18 May 2020 Scientific Reports
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  Citizen Science, a promising tool for detecting and monitoring outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster spp.

  Monitoring potentially devastating coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) populations at scales relevant to management is a challenging task. Here, we investigated a citizen science approach to detect COTS outbreaks and prioritize management...

  • Pascal Dumas
  • Sylvie Fiat
  • Mehdi Adjeroud

  Article Open access 14 January 2020 Scientific Reports
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  Effects of larvae density and food concentration on Crown-of-Thorns seastar (Acanthaster cf. solaris) development in an automated flow-through system

  Coral-eating Crown-of-Thorns Sea stars (Acanthasterspp.) are major contributors to coral reef loss in the Indo-Pacific region. A release from food limitation of their planktotrophic larvae through enhanced pelagic productivity is one of the main...

  • S. Uthicke
  • M. Liddy
  • M. Lamare

  Article Open access 12 January 2018 Scientific Reports