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
A deep reef in deep trouble
TL;DR: In this paper, an observation of a deep reef which has undergone a recent extensive loss of coral cover is presented in contrast to the typical pattern of coral loss in shallow reefs, the deeper corals were most affected.
BookDOI
Climate change : impact on coastal habitation
TL;DR: In this article, D. Eisma et al. present and future sea level: The effects of Predicted Global Changes, E.J. Moerner and E.T. Wells Sea Level Rise: A Worldwide Assessment of Risk and Protection Costs, F.H. Hoozemans and C.C. Hulsbergen Impact of Climatic Change on Coastal Cities, T.R. Deelstra Impact of Climate Change on the Ecology of Temperate Coastal Wetlands, Beaches, and Dunes, V. Noest, E van der Maarel
Journal ArticleDOI
Environmental and ecological controls of coral community metabolism on Palmyra Atoll
David A. Koweek,Robert B. Dunbar,Justin S. Rogers,Gareth J. Williams,Nichole N. Price,Nichole N. Price,David A. Mucciarone,Lida Teneva,Lida Teneva +8 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors employed a combination of Lagrangian and Eulerian frameworks to establish high spatial (2.5 km2) and temporal (hourly) resolution coral community metabolic estimates.
Ecology / Écologie High spatial variability in coral bleaching around Moorea (French Polynesia): patterns across locations and water depths
TL;DR: A severe bleaching event impacted Moorea, French Polynesia, between March and July 2002, causing 55+/-14% of colonies to suffer bleaching around the island, however, bleaching varied significantly across coral genera, locations, and as a function of water depth.
Book
Coral Bleaching and Marine Protected Areas
Rod Salm,Steve L. Coles +1 more
TL;DR: Proceedings of a workshop to discuss coral reef research, monitoring, and marine protected area (MPA) management were presented in this article. But the workshop participants did not discuss the management of coral reefs.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs.
TL;DR: The commonly observed high diversity of trees in tropical rain forests and corals on tropical reefs is a nonequilibrium state which, if not disturbed further, will progress toward a low-diversity equilibrium community as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Climate change : the IPCC scientific assessment
TL;DR: A review of the intergovernmental panel on climate change report on global warming and the greenhouse effect can be found in this paper, where the authors present chemistry of greenhouse gases and mathematical modelling of the climate system.
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.
Book
El Niño, La Niña, and the southern oscillation
TL;DR: The Southern Oscillation (Variability of the Tropical Atmosphere). Oceanic Variability in the Tropics as mentioned in this paper is a well-known phenomenon in meteorological models of tropical weather.
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