Extinction debt of coral associates
Coral associates experienced biodiversity loss multiple years after disturbance to their foundational habitat, which coincides with loss of richness in other ecosystems. Indeed, bleached and dead finger coral habitats retained high levels of species richness for 13-19 months after the bleaching disturbance occurred; in fact, species richness of mobile macroinvertebrates considerably increased during this time period. However, this trend was reversed by a significant loss of mobile macroinvertebrate richness 19-25 months post-bleaching. During the final survey of associated species, total Chao 1 estimated species richness on dead corals was significantly lower relative to corals at earlier time points, and relative to live corals at that time. Depending on how long after our initial survey (June 2007) bleaching actually occurred, and how long before our final survey (July 2011) corals disintegrated, we estimate that it took between 32 and 49 months for the bleachedPocillopora to disintegrate and entirely disappear, driving the species richness of associated fish and macroinvertebrates down even further, possibly to zero as their habitat was lost.