Journal ArticleDOI
Coral reef bleaching: ecological perspectives
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An effort must be made to understand the impact of bleaching on the remainder of the reef community and the long-term effects on competition, predation, symbioses, bioerosion and substrate condition, all factors that can influence coral recruitment and reef recovery.Abstract:
Coral reef bleaching, the whitening of diverse invertebrate taxa, results from the loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae and/or a reduction in photosynthetic pigment concentrations in zooxanthellae residing within the gastrodermal tissues of host animals. Of particular concern are the consequences of bleaching of large numbers of reef-building scleractinian corals and hydrocorals. Published records of coral reef bleaching events from 1870 to the present suggest that the frequency (60 major events from 1979 to 1990), scale (co-occurrence in many coral reef regions and often over the bathymetric depth range of corals) and severity (>95% mortality in some areas) of recent bleaching disturbances are unprecedented in the scientific literature. The causes of small scale, isolated bleaching events can often be explained by particular stressors (e.g., temperature, salinity, light, sedimentation, aerial exposure and pollutants), but attempts to explain large scale bleaching events in terms of possible global change (e.g., greenhouse warming, increased UV radiation flux, deteriorating ecosystem health, or some combination of the above) have not been convincing. Attempts to relate the severity and extent of large scale coral reef bleaching events to particular causes have been hampered by a lack of (a) standardized methods to assess bleaching and (b) continuous, long-term data bases of environmental conditions over the periods of interest. An effort must be made to understand the impact of bleaching on the remainder of the reef community and the long-term effects on competition, predation, symbioses, bioerosion and substrate condition, all factors that can influence coral recruitment and reef recovery. If projected rates of sea warming are realized by mid to late AD 2000, i.e. a 2°C increase in high latitude coral seas, the upper thermal tolerance limits of many reef-building corals could be exceeded. Present evidence suggests that many corals would be unable to adapt physiologically or genetically to such marked and rapid temperature increases.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Evaluation of Coral Reefs’ Restoration in the South China Sea
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluate the evaluation of coral reefs' restoration in the South China Sea and show that these methods are practical, and they will benefit the restoration and expansion of coral reef globally.
DissertationDOI
Effects of past, present and possible future seawater environments on sea cucumbers and the sediments they process
TL;DR: In this article, the short-term impact of Holothuria atra (one of the mostabundant Indo-Pacific holothurians) over the seawater carbonate chemistry, nutrient recycling and buffering capacity within a sedimentary environment was investigated.
Book ChapterDOI
Thermal-Stress Response of Coral Communities to Climate Change
TL;DR: This article examined the response of coral communities to the hazards of climate-change associated thermal stress using a spatially explicit Bayesian approach, using the rates of change in sea surface temperatures and the maximum sea-surface temperatures from 1980 to 2012 as predictive covariates of global records of coral bleaching.
Morphological and genetic evaluation of the hydrocoral Millepora species complex in the
TL;DR: Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the Caribbean milleporids include three species - M. squarrosa, M. striata, and the species complex of M. alcicornis-M.
Journal ArticleDOI
Spatio-temporal Variations of Sea Surface Wind in Coral Reef Regions over the South China Sea from 1988 to 2017
TL;DR: In this article, the seasonal and interannual variabilities of sea surface wind (SSW) in the South China Sea (SCS), especially in coral reef regions such as Nansha Islands, Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands and Dongsha Islands were investigated in detail using the Blended Sea Winds dataset (1988-2017).
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
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Journal ArticleDOI
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Journal ArticleDOI
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