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
Differential accumulation of heavy metals in the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima as a function of symbiotic state.
TL;DR: The results demonstrate that the extent of heavy metal accumulation depends upon cnidarian symbiotic state and the heavy metal in question.
Journal ArticleDOI
Diagnostic gene expression biomarkers of coral thermal stress.
Carly D. Kenkel,Christopher Sheridan,Miguel C. Leal,Miguel C. Leal,Ranjeet Bhagooli,Karl D. Castillo,N. Kurata,Elizabeth S. McGinty,Tamar L. Goulet,Mikhail V. Matz +9 more
TL;DR: This study represents the first step in linking variation in gene expression biomarkers to stress tolerance and bleaching thresholds in situ by quantifying the severity of ongoing thermal stress and its accumulated long‐term impacts.
Journal ArticleDOI
Characterization of Geographically Distinct Bacterial Communities Associated with Coral Mucus Produced by Acropora spp. and Porites spp.
Boyd A. McKew,Alex J. Dumbrell,S D Daud,Leanne J. Hepburn,E Thorpe,L Mogensen,Corinne Whitby +6 more
TL;DR: Analysis of pyrosequencing libraries showed that bacterial communities from Caribbean corals were significantly more diverse than their Indonesian counterparts, and there was a dominance of Halomonas spp.
Journal ArticleDOI
Branqueamento de corais nos recifes da Bahia e sua relação com eventos de anomalias térmicas nas águas superficiais do oceano
TL;DR: There is a strong linkage between coral bleaching and periods of elevated sea surface temperature, and the most affected corals were the ones from the coastal reefs, suggesting that corals exposed to high levels of nutrient and sediment loads, and large SST fluctuations, may be more resistant to the post bleaching effects.
Journal ArticleDOI
Review of the Main Ecological Features Affecting Benthic Dinoflagellate Blooms
TL;DR: The main ecological factors affecting the population dynamics of bloomforming benthic dinoflagellates, with particular emphasis on Ostreopsis and Gambierdiscus are assessed, based on the basic equation of population dynamics.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
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Journal ArticleDOI
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Journal ArticleDOI
Responses of coral reefs and reef organisms to sedimentation
TL;DR: Data is needed on the threshold levels for reef orgarusms and for the reef ecosystem as a whole the levels above which sedimentation has lethal effects for particular species and above which normal functioning of the reef ceases.
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