The abundance, formation, and persistence of long sediment-laden algal turfs on Florida’s coral reef

Over recent decades, coral reefs worldwide have experienced substantial declines in coral cover as a result of interacting global and local stressors. On Florida’s coral reef, coral cover has declined by over 70%, in recent decades, coinciding with pronounced shifts in benthic community composition. One increasingly common feature of these reefs is long sediment-laden algal turfs (LSATs), which form a turf–sediment matrix that occupies space formerly available to reef-building corals and crustos