Spatial and temporal patterns of mass bleaching of corals in the Anthropocene

Hughes, Terry P.; Anderson, Kristen D.; Connolly, Sean R.; Heron, Scott F.; Kerry, James T.; Lough, Janice; Baird, Andrew H.; Baum, Julia K.; Berumen, Michael L.; Bridge, Tom C. L.; Claar, Danielle C.; Eakin, C. Mark; Gilmour, James; Graham, Nicholas A. J.; Harrison, Hugo B.; Hobbs, Jean‐Paul A.; Hoey, Andrew S.; Hoogenboom, Mia O.; Lowe, Ryan J.; McCulloch, Malcolm T.; Pandolfi, John M.; Pratchett, Morgan S.; Schoepf, Verena; Torda, Gergely; Wilson, Shaun K.

doi:10.1126/science.aan8048

Cited by 1,678 publications

(1,537 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The differential susceptibility of distinct coral species to thermal stress will determine their future abundances and distribution and therefore the resulting community structure over depth 13 . Based on our OLR results and the expected increase in the intensity and frequency of occurrence of mass bleaching events 2,28 , we tentatively predict a further reduction in the abundance of bleaching sensitive genera, such as Stylophora or Seriatopora 29 on the shallow reefs of the GBR, and a consistently growing contribution to the overall reef community of coral taxa that have a large proportion of their population in the upper mesophotic reef.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 58%

Deep reefs of the Great Barrier Reef offer limited thermal refuge during mass coral bleaching

et al. 2018

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Our rapidly warming climate is threatening coral reefs as thermal anomalies trigger mass coral bleaching events. Deep (or “mesophotic”) coral reefs are hypothesised to act as major ecological refuges from mass bleaching, but empirical assessments are limited. We evaluated the potential of mesophotic reefs within the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and adjacent Coral Sea to act as thermal refuges by characterising long-term temperature conditions and assessing impacts during the 2016 mass bleaching event. We found that summer upwelling initially provided thermal relief at upper mesophotic depths (40 m), but then subsided resulting in anomalously warm temperatures even at depth. Bleaching impacts on the deep reefs were severe (40% bleached and 6% dead colonies at 40 m) but significantly lower than at shallower depths (60–69% bleached and 8–12% dead at 5-25 m). While we confirm that deep reefs can offer refuge from thermal stress, we highlight important caveats in terms of the transient nature of the protection and their limited ability to provide broad ecological refuge.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 58%

Deep reefs of the Great Barrier Reef offer limited thermal refuge during mass coral bleaching

et al. 2018

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“…With climate change impacting the entire global marine ecosystem, as well as millions of people, biologists are racing to develop novel approaches to better conserve, restore and manage coral reefs 10 , which have endured significant impacts since the early 1980s 11 . To be effective, we need to fully explore, and embrace, the intricacies and complexities of coral holobiont health 12 .…”

Section: Immunity Purveyor Of Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immunity and the coral crisis

Palmer

2018

Commun Biol

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“…Mass coral bleaching due to anomalously warm water temperatures has occurred with increasing frequency and severity in recent decades (Eakin et al, 2010;Heron et al, 2016a;Hughes et al, 2018). It is now the most significant single contributor to the decline of coral reef ecosystems on a global scale (Wilkinson, 2008;Spalding and Brown, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%