Low coral mortality during the most intense bleaching event ever recorded in subtropical Southwestern Atlantic reefs

Coral reefs globally are threatened by climate change, but reef assemblages at high latitudes may serve as refugia. Marginal coral communities located in the subtropical Southwestern Atlantic are poorly studied, but were subject to an unprecedented heatwave and associated coral bleaching in 2019. Re...

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Veröffentlicht in:Coral reefs Jg. 39; H. 3; S. 515 - 521
Hauptverfasser: Banha, T. N. S., Capel, K. C. C., Kitahara, M. V., Francini-Filho, R. B., Francini, C. L. B., Sumida, P. Y. G., Mies, M.
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.06.2020
Springer Nature B.V
Schlagworte:
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Climate change
Colonies
Coral bleaching
Coral reefs
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Heat waves
Life Sciences
Mortality
Oceanography
Refugia
Brazil
Climate change
Degree heating weeks
Marginal
Scleractinia
ISSN:0722-4028, 1432-0975
Online-Zugang:Volltext
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Zusammenfassung:Coral reefs globally are threatened by climate change, but reef assemblages at high latitudes may serve as refugia. Marginal coral communities located in the subtropical Southwestern Atlantic are poorly studied, but were subject to an unprecedented heatwave and associated coral bleaching in 2019. Record values of 18.5 and 20.5 °C-weeks were registered for coastal and insular sites, which are the highest ever documented for a reef in the South Atlantic. As a consequence, approximately 80% and 20% of the population of the reef-building coral Mussismilia hispida (1116 colonies surveyed) underwent bleaching in coastal and insular sites, respectively. However, mortality (2%) was far lower than for episodes of similar magnitude in other regions, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. Therefore, the subtropical Southwestern Atlantic MCC displayed low mortality and remarkable tolerance when exposed to the most intense bleaching episode ever recorded for the region, reinforcing its potential as a refugium.
Bibliographie:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:0722-4028
1432-0975
DOI:10.1007/s00338-019-01856-y