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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We acknowledge the invaluable efforts of the Veterans Affairs data
architects, managers, and clinicians who assembled the
Centralized Interactive Phenomics Resource (CIPHER), rapidly
compiling a library of numerous COVID-19–related phenotypes that
are the basis for this research. Our work was supported by using
resources and facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) Informatics and Computing Infrastructure (VINCI), VA HSR
RES 14-457. We deeply appreciate the steady service and
support of the VA Informatics and Computing Infrastructure
(VINCI) staff. Without the efforts of these teams, this study
would not have been possible. We are grateful for the veterans
who have so selflessly served their country. The views expressed
in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans
Affairs or the US government. Insititutional Review Board (IRB):
This research is covered under the University of California, San
Francisco IRB 10-03609 Reference 320151Funding:This work
was supported by the Mercatus Center at George Mason
University (Fast Grants 2207) and the University of California
Office of the President (Emergency COVID-19 Research Seed
Funding R00RG3118).Author contributions:Conceptualization:
B.A.C. and P.M.C. Methodology: P.M.C., C.C.M., and B.A.C. Statistical
analysis: P.M.C. Funding acquisition: A.W.W., P.M.C., and N.Y.K.
Data interpretation: all authors. Writing, original draft: C.C.M.,
P.M.C., and B.A.C. Writing, review and editing: all authors.
Competing interests:C.C.M. reports consulting for Freenome.
A.W.W. reports consulting for ECOM Medical, Obelab, Sensifree,
and Shifamed. B.A.C., P.M.C., and N.Y.K. declare that they have no
competing interests.Data and materials availability:Data and
materials availability: The data that support the findings of this
study are available from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Code is available at ( 46 ). Data are made freely available to
researchers behind the VA firewall with an approved study
protocol. Summary data can be accessed from a commercialsource Data Lake Analysis for Real-World Evidence Solutions–
STATinMED: https://statinmed.com/data. More information is
available at https://www.virec.research.va.gov or by contacting the
VA Information Resource Center at [email protected]. This work is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited. To view a copy of this license, visit https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This license does not
apply to figures/photos/artwork or other content included in the
article that is credited to a third party; obtain authorization from
the rights holder before using such material.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm0620
Material and Methods
Fig. S1
Tables S1 to S3
MDAR Reproducibility Checklist
24 August 2021; accepted 2 November 2021
Published online 4 November 2021
10.1126/science.abm0620CORAL REEFSProtecting connectivity promotes successful
biodiversity and fisheries conservation
Luisa Fontoura^1 , Stephanie DÕAgata1,2,3, Majambo Gamoyo^4 , Diego R. Barneche5,6, Osmar J. Luiz^7 ,
Elizabeth M. P. Madin^8 , Linda Eggertsen^9 , Joseph M. Maina1,10*The global decline of coral reefs has led to calls for strategies that reconcile biodiversity conservation
and fisheries benefits. Still, considerable gaps in our understanding of the spatial ecology of ecosystem
services remain. We combined spatial information on larval dispersal networks and estimates of
human pressure to test the importance of connectivity for ecosystem service provision. We found
that reefs receiving larvae from highly connected dispersal corridors were associated with high fish species
richness. Generally, larval“sinks”contained twice as much fish biomass as“sources”and exhibited
greater resilience to human pressure when protected. Despite their potential to support biodiversity
persistence and sustainable fisheries, up to 70% of important dispersal corridors, sinks, and source reefs
remain unprotected, emphasizing the need for increased protection of networks of well-connected reefs.E
cological networks of larval dispersal sup-
port the long-term resilience of marine
assemblages through population replen-
ishment and gene flow ( 1 , 2 ). The spatially
asymmetric nature of larval dispersal
driven by species-specific life history traits
and oceanographic conditions shapes coral
reef connectivity patterns ( 3 ). Reefs acting as“sources”of fish larval export can help stabilize
and restore fisheries in connected“sinks”( 4 ).
Dispersal corridors connect populations between
sources and sinks, thus promoting gene flow and
supporting biodiversity persistence ( 5 , 6 ). Dis-
cerning functionally important connectivity
attributes on coral reefs is vital for maximizing
biodiversity and fisheries benefits that largely
contribute to the well-being of human popula-
tions ( 7 , 8 ). We address three fundamental gaps
concerning protection of ecological connectivity
oncoralreefs:(i)therelativeimportanceofdis-
tinct larval connectivity attributes in supporting
reef fish species richness (biodiversity persist-
ence) and biomass (sustainable fisheries); (ii)
fish community responses along gradients of
larval connectivity, human pressure, and fish-
eries management; and (iii) the state of con-
nectivity conservation for coral reefs.
We applied a Bayesian hierarchical modeling
framework to test the association between fish
larval connectivity and ecosystem services pro-
vision, quantified with fish species richness
and fish standing biomass across a gradient336 21 JANUARY 2022•VOL 375 ISSUE 6578 science.orgSCIENCE
(^1) Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.^2 Marine
Programs, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY, USA.
(^3) ENTROPIE (IRD, University of La Reunion, CNRS, University
of New Caledonia, Ifremer), 97400 Saint-Denis, La Reunion
c/o IUEM, 29280 Plouzané, France.^4 Coastal and Marine
Resources Development, Mombasa, Kenya.^5 Australian
Institute of Marine Science, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
(^6) Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia,
Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.^7 Research Institute for the
Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University,
Darwin, NT, Australia.^8 Hawai‘i Institute of Marine
Biology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology,
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Kāne‘ohe, HI 96744, USA.
(^9) Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, SE-621 67
Visby, Sweden.^10 Centre for Environmental Law, Macquarie
University, Sydney, NSW 2019, Australia.
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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