Assessment of coral bleaching using symbiotic zooxanthellae density and satellite remote sensing data in the Nansha Islands, South China Sea

Shu, Li; Yu, Kefu; Chen, Tianran; Shi, Quan; Zhang, Huiling

doi:10.1007/s11434-011-4390-6

Cited by 60 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In the Nansha Islands (i.e., the Spratly Islands, southern South China Sea (SCS)), coral bleaching events, such as GCBEs, are one of the main threats to coral health, and lead to coral reef degradation and macroalgae occupation (e.g., Li et al, 2011;Yu et al, 2006). In situ observation during an investigation in June 2015 found that corals were in a healthy state such that almost no bleaching corals were found (e.g., Qin et al, 2019).…”

Section: 1029/2019jc015579mentioning

confidence: 99%

Significant Changes in Microbial Communities Associated With Reef Corals in the Southern South China Sea During the 2015/2016 Global‐Scale Coral Bleaching Event

Qin

Liang

et al. 2020

JGR Oceans

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Microbial communities play important roles as coral symbionts, but their changes among coral species in response to thermal bleaching events are not well understood. Therefore, we focused on the microbial communities associated with coral species in the southern South China Sea (SCS) during the 2015/2016 global‐scale coral bleaching event (GCBE). Samples of eight typical coral species were collected before and during the GCBE, and the microbial communities, potential gene functions, and zooxanthellae densities (ZDs) were analyzed. We found that ZDs significantly decreased among all coral species during the GCBE. Alpha diversities of the microbial communities also significantly decreased at different taxonomic levels among these coral species. Principal coordinates analysis revealed significant differences in beta diversity among coral specimens, which were divided into two groups before and during the GCBE. Microbial gene functional prediction showed that microbial community physiology significantly changed during the GCBE, with decreased coverage in metabolism, membrane transport, replication and repair, and increased coverage in cell motility and signal transduction. Moreover, the abundance of potential pathogens such as the genus Vibrio greatly increased (from ~0.28% to ~52.92%) during the GCBE, whereas the abundance of several beneficial microbes such as Endozoicomonas significantly decreased (from ~26.10% to ~0.91%), resulting in an obvious decline in the coral‐holobiont physiological functions. Thus, the GCBE greatly affected the health of coral species in the southern SCS, by reducing the biodiversity of associated microbial communities and increasing the abundance of potential pathogens.

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Section: 1029/2019jc015579mentioning

confidence: 99%

Significant Changes in Microbial Communities Associated With Reef Corals in the Southern South China Sea During the 2015/2016 Global‐Scale Coral Bleaching Event

Qin

Liang

et al. 2020

JGR Oceans

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“…6d). In June 2007, bleaching events were observed on Zhubi Reef and Meiji Reef of Nansha Islands (Li et al, 2011) when NOAA DHW and TSA_DHW here were both less than 3℃-weeks. If the DHW threshold of 4℃-weeks based on satellite data really underestimates the extent and intensity of coral bleaching in SCS, corals affected in these two years might be tremendous especially in 1998.…”

Section: Anomaly Intensitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reefs near Philippines such as the northern Palawan Islands (10°24′-11°38′N, 119°10′-120°30′E) and Bolinao (16°22′-16°27′N, 119°52′-119°59′E) experienced vast area bleaching in 1998 (Arceo et al, 2001), indicating coral reefs of China may also have suffered from this extreme thermal event. Then in June 2007, in situ data found the initial stage of coral bleaching on Zhubi Reef and Meiji Reef (Li et al, 2011) of the Nansha Islands due to abnormally high temperatures. In addition, coral records show that coral reefs in the southern SCS have experienced frequent bleaching events due to elevated SST over the last 200 years (Yu, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal variability of thermal stress to China’s coral reefs in South China Sea

Zuo

et al. 2015

Chin. Geogr. Sci.

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Coral bleaching, caused by elevated sea surface temperature (SST), is occurring more frequently and seriously worldwide. Due to the lack of field observations, we understand little about the large-scale variability of thermal stress in the South China Sea (SCS) and its effect on Chinas coral reefs. This paper used 4-km high resolution gap-filled SST (FilledSST) data and thermal stress data related to coral bleaching derived from Coral Reef Temperature Anomaly Database (CoRTAD) to quantify the spatial and temporal characteristics of chronic thermal stress and acute thermal stress to China's coral reefs in SCS from 1982 to 2009. We analyzed the trend of SST in summer and the thermal stress frequency, intensity and duration during this period. The results indicate that, as a chronic thermal stress, summer mean SST in SCS shows an average upward trend of 0.2 /decade and the spatial pattern is heterogeneous.℃ Waters of Xisha Islands and Dongsha Islands of the northern SCS are warming faster through time compared to Zhongsha Islands and Nansha Islands sea areas of the southern SCS. High frequency bleaching related thermal stress events for these reefs are seen in the area to the northwest of Luzon Island. Severe anomaly thermal stress events are more likely to occur during the subsequent year of the El Niño year for these coral reefs. Besides, the duration of thermal stress varies considerably by anomaly year and by region.

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“…Nevertheless, bleaching susceptibility also varies according to coral species, location, thermal history, environmental acclimatization capability, and Symbiodiniaceae (i.e., zooxanthellae) genotype (e.g., Berkelmans & van Oppen, ; Liang et al, ; Loya et al, ; Thompson & van Woesik, ). For example, in the Luhuitou fringing reef of the South China Sea (SCS), branching Acropora corals had lower ZD and yet were more susceptible to bleaching than massive Porites corals (Li et al, ; Xu et al, ). The same susceptibility pattern was observed over a wide geographic range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and Intergeneric Variation in Physiological Indicators of Corals in the South China Sea: Insights Into Their Current State and Their Adaptability to Environmental Stress

Qin

Wang

et al. 2019

JGR Oceans

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It is well known that coral thermal bleaching is mainly caused by abnormally high temperatures, but the spatial/intergeneric variation in coral‐algal symbiosis and its linkage to coral bleaching susceptibility is not well understood. In this study, 654 coral samples were collected from six coral reef regions (CRRs) in the South China Sea (SCS), between the Nansha Islands (~10°N) and Daya Bay (22°50′N). They were analyzed to explore how geographical/environmental variation affects coral bleaching susceptibility. The results showed significant spatial and intergeneric variation in zooxanthellae density, Chl a content, and tissue biomass. Massive corals generally showed higher values than branching corals for all three parameters across CRRs. Spatial analysis showed that these parameters were lowest in the Nansha Islands and highest in Daya Bay, indicating increases with latitude. Several factors may have accounted for this trend, with the most important being sea surface temperature and nutrients. Additionally, we observed a relationship between physiological parameters and bleaching susceptibility, which was that branching corals had greater bleaching susceptibility than massive corals. Coral community composition and live coral cover data showing increasing dominance of massive corals in the SCS support the above inference. Relatively high‐latitude areas have been proposed as potential refuges for corals under continued global warming and the physiological parameters in the present study seem to support this. However, in spite of the aforementioned results, the smallest live coral cover was found in the northern CRRs. This suggests that this refuge function is currently compromised, mainly due to increasing destructive anthropogenic actions.

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Assessment of coral bleaching using symbiotic zooxanthellae density and satellite remote sensing data in the Nansha Islands, South China Sea

Cited by 60 publications

References 17 publications

Significant Changes in Microbial Communities Associated With Reef Corals in the Southern South China Sea During the 2015/2016 Global‐Scale Coral Bleaching Event

Significant Changes in Microbial Communities Associated With Reef Corals in the Southern South China Sea During the 2015/2016 Global‐Scale Coral Bleaching Event

Spatial and temporal variability of thermal stress to China’s coral reefs in South China Sea

Spatial and Intergeneric Variation in Physiological Indicators of Corals in the South China Sea: Insights Into Their Current State and Their Adaptability to Environmental Stress

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