Reconnecting reef recovery in a world of coral bleaching

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Mumby ◽  
Robert A. B. Mason ◽  
Karlo Hock
Keyword(s):  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Reef Recovery

scholarly journals Differential impacts of 2016 coral bleaching on coral reef benthic communities at Sekotong Bay, Lombok Barat, Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 570-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
IMAM BACHTIAR ◽  
TRI ARYONO HADI
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Soft Coral ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Benthic Communities ◽  
Coral Community ◽  
Coral Mortality ◽  
Reef Recovery ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Cascade Effects

Abstract. Bachtiar I, Hadi TA. 2019. Differential impacts of 2016 coral bleaching on coral reef benthic communities at Sekotong Bay, Lombok Barat, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 570-575. Coral bleaching has been a major causal factor of coral mortality worldwide in the last two decades and it is therefore threaten food security. Understanding post-bleaching recovery is therefore very crucial to formulate strategy in promoting natural coral reef recovery. The present study documented coral reef communities both in pre- and post-bleaching event in early 2016. The results show that coral bleaching variably reduced coral and soft-coral covers. Sponge and other fauna cover considerably fluctuated. Since the individual number of soft-coral, sponge and other fauna were small, there is likely no big impact of coral bleaching. Among 12 study sites, 11 sites showed significant reduction of coral cover but one site showed only little fluctuation. Overall mean reduction of coral cover was about 18%. Consequently, algal cover increased by about 24%. The present study revealed differential coral bleaching impact between outer- and inner- reefs. At outer reefs, coral community suffered more severe mass coral mortality than those at inner reefs. This disparity is likely owing to initial coral cover and species composition of the coral communities. In the second year, there is still no visible coral recruitment from larvae. Cascade effects of land-clearing and overfishing due to increasing tourism development is very likely to be additional major stress that pause post-bleaching coral reef recovery at Sekotong Bay, Lombok Island, Indonesia.

Predicting cold-water bleaching in corals: role of temperature, and potential integration of light exposure

2020 ◽  
Vol 642 ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
PC González-Espinosa ◽  
SD Donner
Keyword(s):  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
Light Exposure ◽  
Light Attenuation ◽  
Florida Keys ◽  
Cold Temperature ◽  
Warm Water ◽  
Coral Tissue ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Type I

Warm-water growth and survival of corals are constrained by a set of environmental conditions such as temperature, light, nutrient levels and salinity. Water temperatures of 1 to 2°C above the usual summer maximum can trigger a phenomenon known as coral bleaching, whereby disruption of the symbiosis between coral and dinoflagellate micro-algae, living within the coral tissue, reveals the white skeleton of coral. Anomalously cold water can also lead to coral bleaching but has been the subject of limited research. Although cold-water bleaching events are less common, they can produce similar impacts on coral reefs as warm-water events. In this study, we explored the effect of temperature and light on the likelihood of cold-water coral bleaching from 1998-2017 using available bleaching observations from the Eastern Tropical Pacific and the Florida Keys. Using satellite-derived sea surface temperature, photosynthetically available radiation and light attenuation data, cold temperature and light exposure metrics were developed and then tested against the bleaching observations using logistic regression. The results show that cold-water bleaching can be best predicted with an accumulated cold-temperature metric, i.e. ‘degree cooling weeks’, analogous to the heat stress metric ‘degree heating weeks’, with high accuracy (90%) and fewer Type I and Type II errors in comparison with other models. Although light, when also considered, improved prediction accuracy, we found that the most reliable framework for cold-water bleaching prediction may be based solely on cold-temperature exposure.

scholarly journals Assessing population collapse of Drupella spp. (Mollusca: Gastropoda) 2 years after a coral bleaching event in the Republic of Maldives

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Saponari ◽  
I. Dehnert ◽  
P. Galli ◽  
S. Montano
Keyword(s):  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
High Plasticity ◽  
Bleaching Event ◽  
Coral Recovery ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Line Intercept

AbstractCorallivory causes considerable damage to coral reefs and can exacerbate other disturbances. Among coral predators, Drupella spp. are considered as delayer of coral recovery in the Republic of Maldives, although little information is available on their ecology. Thus, we aimed to assess their population structure, feeding behaviour and spatial distribution around 2 years after a coral bleaching event in 2016. Biological and environmental data were collected using belt and line intercept transects in six shallow reefs in Maldives. The snails occurred in aggregations with a maximum of 62 individuals and exhibited a preference for branching corals. Yet, the gastropods showed a high plasticity in adapting feeding preferences to prey availability. Drupella spp. were homogenously distributed in the study area with an average of 9.04 ± 19.72 ind/200 m2. However, their occurrence was significantly different at the reef scale with the highest densities found in locations with higher coral cover. The impact of Drupella spp. appeared to be minimal with the population suffering from the loss of coral cover. We suggest that monitoring programs collect temporal- and spatial-scale data on non-outbreaking populations or non-aggregating populations to understand the dynamics of predation related to the co-occurrence of anthropogenic and natural impacts.

scholarly journals Sugar enrichment provides evidence for a role of nitrogen fixation in coral bleaching

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 3838-3848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Pogoreutz ◽  
Nils Rädecker ◽  
Anny Cárdenas ◽  
Astrid Gärdes ◽  
Christian R. Voolstra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Coral Bleaching

scholarly journals The role of clouds in coral bleaching events over the Great Barrier Reef

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenhui ZHAO ◽  
Yi HUANG ◽  
Steven T Siems ◽  
Michael J Manton
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Barrier Reef

scholarly journals Extreme white colouration of frogfish Antennarius maculatus due to coral bleaching event

Coral Reefs ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Grimsditch ◽  
Ahmed Basheer ◽  
D. E. P. Bryant
Keyword(s):  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Bleaching Event
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