Mangrove forests mitigate coral bleaching under thermal stress from climate change

Johnson, Jack V.; Dick, Jaimie T. A.; Pincheira‐Donoso, Daniel

doi:10.1101/2021.06.04.447049

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Regional variation of bleaching responses to local stressors is unsurprising considering spatial variation in bleaching patterns (McClanahan et al., 2020; Sully et al., 2019). These spatial variations exist as a result of numerous factors, including local species composition (and pre‐disturbance cover), which is strongly influenced by disturbance history (Selig et al., 2012; Stuart‐Smith et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2014), the biogeography and evolutionary history of regions (Osman et al., 2018), environmental conditions, such as turbidity (Cacciapaglia & Woesik, 2016; Sully & van Woesik, 2020), and connectivity between ecosystems (Johnson et al., 2021). Here, we highlight that local stressors incurred from local HPD may result in exacerbated bleaching severity in certain regions of the world, such as the Sunda Shelf (Figure 3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reef Check data are collected using established protocols to a high standard by citizen scientists, with the reliability reported in Done et al (2017) who found that the monitoring protocol has high accuracy, showing sampling error < ± 7% error for cover of benthic components. These data have also been utilized and described in previous macroecological studies (Bruno & Valdivia, 2016;Donovan et al, 2021;Johnson et al, 2021;Sully et al, 2019;Sully & van Woesik, 2020). From Reef Check data, coral bleaching (% of population) along with latitude-longitude geographic coordinates and the date of each survey were collected to allow for spatial extraction for HPD data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Local anthropogenic stress does not exacerbate coral bleaching under global climate change

Johnson

Dick

Pincheira‐Donoso

et al. 2022

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim: Rising ocean temperatures are widely recognized as the dominant driver behind the rapid degradation of coral reefs via the process of coral bleaching (the expulsion of photosynthetic endosymbionts, which reveals the coral skeleton). However, bleaching of hard corals is often assumed to be further aggravated by the effect of local-scale stressors from anthropogenic activity, accelerating coral reef decline where these stressors are stronger. Despite the importance of this hypothesis, the interaction between climate change and local stressors for driving coral bleaching has only been investigated in a handful of studies, with no large scale (regional or global) test conducted thus far. We investigate the impact of human population density (HPD) -a proxy for local stressors -in both protected and non-protected marine regions, and their interaction under heat stress as drivers of coral bleaching.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local anthropogenic stress does not exacerbate coral bleaching under global climate change

Johnson

Dick

Pincheira‐Donoso

et al. 2022

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…Data are available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m905qfv5m (Johnson et al 2023). Code is available from Github: https://github.com/ JackVJohnson/Global_bleaching_mangroves.…”

Section: Author Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A global analysis of coral bleaching patterns in association with mangrove environments under global warming

2023

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Marine heatwaves caused by global warming are progressively degrading coral reefs worldwide via the process of coral bleaching -the expulsion of photosynthetic endosymbionts. However, coral bleaching is not spatially homogeneous, but varies across environmental gradients in association with local conditions and taxonomic composition. Emerging evidence suggests that mangrove habitats are recurrent ''microenvironments' for reef corals, providing key biogeochemical services believed to influence their resilience, and housing co-tolerant coral taxa. This close association between coral reefs and mangroves has led to the hypothesis that the extent of coral bleaching is reduced by the proximity of reef building corals to mangroves. Here, we present the first globalscale test addressing this hypothesis. Using Bayesian generalised linear mixed effect modelling, we show that coral bleaching tends to increase under higher thermal stress when corals are further away from mangroves. When comparing conditional effects, corals furthest away from mangroves also show the highest levels of bleaching, suggesting a phenomenon of reduced bleaching for corals residing closer to mangroves under thermal stress. The drivers of this pattern may be numerous, but most likely include the presence of co-tolerant coral species which are known to be associated with mangroves. Future research should focus on disentangling the mechanisms underlying these coral bleaching patterns in association with mangroves, specifically focusing on in-situ environmental and taxonomic data collection. These endeavours will most likely require high-resolution analyses of coral reefs at more local-scales. Ultimately, our findings add to the ever-growing importance of mangroves for near-shore coral reef environments, and suggest a potentially important benefit for coral reefs associated with mangroves in the Anthropocene.

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Marine protected areas do not buffer corals from bleaching under global warming

2022

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Background The rising temperature of the oceans has been identified as the primary driver of mass coral reef declines via coral bleaching (expulsion of photosynthetic endosymbionts). Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been implemented throughout the oceans with the aim of mitigating the impact of local stressors, enhancing fish biomass, and sustaining biodiversity overall. In coral reef regions specifically, protection from local stressors and the enhanced ecosystem function contributed by MPAs are expected to increase coral resistance to global-scale stressors such as marine heatwaves. However, MPAs still suffer from limitations in design, or fail to be adequately enforced, potentially reducing their intended efficacy. Here, we address the hypothesis that the local-scale benefits resulting from MPAs moderate coral bleaching under global warming related stress. Results Bayesian analyses reveal that bleaching is expected to occur in both larger and older MPAs when corals are under thermal stress from marine heatwaves (quantified as Degree Heating Weeks, DHW), but this is partially moderated in comparison to the effects of DHW alone. Further analyses failed to identify differences in bleaching prevalence in MPAs relative to non-MPAs for coral reefs experiencing different levels of thermal stress. Finally, no difference in temperatures where bleaching occurs between MPA and non-MPA sites was found. Conclusions Our findings suggest that bleaching is likely to occur under global warming regardless of protected status. Thus, while protected areas have key roles for maintaining ecosystem function and local livelihoods, combatting the source of global warming remains the best way to prevent the decline of coral reefs via coral bleaching.

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Mangrove forests mitigate coral bleaching under thermal stress from climate change

Cited by 3 publications

References 51 publications

Local anthropogenic stress does not exacerbate coral bleaching under global climate change

Local anthropogenic stress does not exacerbate coral bleaching under global climate change

A global analysis of coral bleaching patterns in association with mangrove environments under global warming

Marine protected areas do not buffer corals from bleaching under global warming

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