Study
Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals
Hughes, Terry P.; Kerry, James T.; Álvarez-Noriega, Mariana; Álvarez-Romero, Jorge G.; Anderson, Kristen D.; Baird, Andrew H.
Nature, 2017
Bleaching severity was surveyed across hundreds of reefs during successive mass bleaching events, and related to accumulated heat exposure and to local factors including water quality and fishing pressure.
- Studied in
- Anthozoa
- Sample size
- aerial and underwater surveys of hundreds of reefs across bleaching events
Bleaching severity tracked accumulated heat exposure. Reefs with better water quality and lower fishing pressure did not escape bleaching, and the interval between severe events shortened over the record.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Local protection does not prevent heat-driven mass bleaching, and shortening intervals between events reduce the time available for recovery.
How NatureHQ reads it
The result with the most uncomfortable implication in this family. Local management — water quality, fishing — has real benefits and did not protect reefs from heat. And because recovery of a badly bleached reef takes a decade or more, the interval between events matters as much as their severity: a reef can survive one and be unable to survive three.
- Observational survey of events as they occurred; no controlled comparison is possible.
- Aerial survey estimates bleaching severity at coarse resolution and is calibrated against underwater sampling.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Coral and its symbionts
Bleaching is the loss of the photosynthetic partners that supply most of a coral’s energy, not the death of the animal. It can recover if conditions ease — and it is starving while it waits.
Coral and its symbionts
A coral hosting a heat-tolerant symbiont type withstands higher temperatures than the same species hosting a less tolerant one. The gain is real, modest, and appears to cost the coral energy.
Published by: Nature PortfolioPublished in a Nature Portfolio journal.
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