Climate Change, Human Impacts, and the Resilience of Coral Reefs

Abstract

The diversity, frequency, and scale of human impacts on coral reefs are increasing to the extent that reefs are threatened globally. Projected increases in carbon dioxide and temperature over the next 50 years exceed the conditions under which coral reefs have flourished over the past half-million years. However, reefs will change rather than disappear entirely, with some species already showing far greater tolerance to climate change and coral bleaching than others. International integration of management strategies that support reef resilience need to be vigorously implemented, and complemented by strong policy decisions to reduce the rate of global warming.

Corals from the Persian/Arabian Gulf as models for thermotolerant reef-builders: Prevalence of clade C3 Symbiodinium, host fluorescence and ex situ temperature tolerance

“…Although the animal host might survive and recover, mass mortality is frequently observed among bleached corals Glynn, 1996;Wilkinson, 1998). Over the past decades, mass bleaching events associated with elevated seawater temperatures have become more frequent and have contributed to the rapid degradation of coral reefs Burt et al, 2011;Hughes et al, 2003). Currently, an estimated 30% of reefs are severely damaged and >50% may be lost within the next two decades according to climate predictions (Hughes et al, 2003;Sheppard, 2003).…”

Importance, Destruction and Recovery of Coral Reefs

“…According to [24] needs the International integration of management strategies that support reef resilience to be vigorously implemented, and complemented by strong policy decisions to reduce the rate of global warming. Furthermore, Threatened centres of endemism are major biodiversity hotspots, and conservation efforts targeted toward them could help avert the loss of tropical reef biodiversity [14].…”

The most primitive metazoan animals, the placozoans, show high sensitivity to increasing ocean temperatures and acidities

“…As many marine organisms live close to their thermal tolerance (Hughes et al., 2003; Somero, 2002), increase in temperature may have severe impact on their performance and survival. Many reef‐building corals for example respond to warm episodes with widespread coral bleaching and show increased rates in mortality (Hughes et al., 2003; McWilliams et al., 2005). Often it is the planktonic larval or early benthic stages, which are especially sensitive (e.g., Foster, 1971; Pechenik, 1989).…”