Nearshore coral growth declining on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System

Baumann, Justin H.; Ries, Justin B.; Rippe, John P.; Courtney, Travis A.; Aichelman, Hannah E.; Westfield, Isaac; Castillo, Karl D.

doi:10.1111/gcb.14784

Cited by 27 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 78 publications

(157 reference statements)

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“…Additionally, mid- and outer-shelf reefs have been less sensitive to heat stress than those nearshore, with evidence of only minor bleaching events in the skeletal cores and no apparent increase in frequency or severity in recent decades. A similar pattern of highly susceptible nearshore corals and more resilient offshore corals has been reported in the Mesoamerican reef system ( Baumann et al, 2019 ). As sea surface temperatures increase in the coming decades, the central Red Sea will be subjected to more frequent and intense heat stress events ( Cantin et al, 2010 ; Van Hooidonk, Maynard & Planes, 2013 ; Hoegh-Guldberg et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

The past century of coral bleaching in the Saudi Arabian central Red Sea

DeCarlo

2020

PeerJ

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Accurate knowledge of the spatial and temporal patterns of coral bleaching is essential both for understanding how coral reef ecosystems are changing today and forecasting their future states. Yet, in many regions of the world, the history of bleaching is poorly known, especially prior to the late 20th century. Here, I use the information preserved within skeleton cores of long-lived Porites corals to reconstruct the past century of bleaching events in the Saudi Arabian central Red Sea. In these cores, skeletal “stress bands”—indicative of past bleaching—captured known bleaching events that occurred in 1998 and 2010, but also revealed evidence of previously unknown bleaching events in 1931, 1978, and 1982. However, these earlier events affected a significantly lesser proportion of corals than 1998 and 2010. Therefore, coral bleaching may have occurred in the central Red Sea earlier than previously recognized, but the frequency and severity of bleaching events since 1998 on nearshore reefs is unprecedented over the past century. Conversely, corals living on mid- to outer-shelf reefs have not been equally susceptible to bleaching as their nearshore counterparts, which was evident in that stress bands were five times more prevalent nearshore. Whether this pattern of susceptible nearshore reefs and resistant outer-shelf reefs continues in the future remains a key question in forecasting coral reef futures in this region.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

The past century of coral bleaching in the Saudi Arabian central Red Sea

DeCarlo

2020

PeerJ

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“…Yet, this is not a universal trend (e.g., Cooper et al., 2012; Kuffner et al., 2019; Manzello et al., 2015), suggesting that the severity of the calcification rate decline depends on the thermal sensitivity of each species (Carricart‐Ganivet et al., 2012; Goffredo et al., 2009) and the reef area inhabited by the coral colonies (Castillo et al., 2011). In the Western Caribbean, it has been shown that some coral species (e.g., Orbicella spp., Porites astreoides , Dichocoenia stokesi , Dendrogyra cylindrus , Siderastrea siderea , and Pseudodiploria strigosa ) have reduced calcification rates due to increases in ocean temperature, ocean acidification, and anthropogenic pressures (Baumann et al., 2019; Carricart‐Ganivet et al., 2012; Castillo et al., 2011; Cruz‐Ortega et al., 2020). In this context, the use of a single calcification estimate for each species in our approach may have resulted in an over‐estimation if calcification decreased in response to warming over the study period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery disparity between coral cover and the physical functionality of reefs with impaired coral assemblages

González‐Barrios

Cabral-Tena²,

Álvarez‐Filip

2020

Global Change Biology

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The ecology and structure of many tropical coral reefs have been markedly altered over the past few decades. Although long‐term recovery has been observed in terms of coral cover, it is not clear how novel species configurations shape reef functionality in impaired reefs. The identities and life‐history strategies of the corals species that recover are essential for understanding reef functional dynamics. We used a species identity approach to quantify the physical functionality outcomes over a 13 year period across 56 sites in the Mexican Caribbean. This region was affected by multiple stressors that converged and drastically damaged reefs in the early 2000s. Since then, the reefs have shown evidence of a modest recovery of coral cover. We used Bayesian linear models and annual rates of change to estimate temporal changes in physical functionality and coral cover. Moreover, a functional diversity framework was used to explore changes in coral composition and the traits of those assemblages. Between 2005 and 2018, physical functionality increased at a markedly lower rate compared to that of coral cover. The disparity between recovery rates depended on the identity of the species that increased (mainly non‐framework and foliose‐digitate corals). No changes in species dominance or functional trait composition were observed, whereas non‐framework building corals consistently dominated most reefs. Although the observed recovery of coral cover and functional potential may provide some ecological benefits, the long‐term effects on reef frameworks remain unclear, as changes in the cover of key reef‐building species were not observed. Our findings are likely to be representative of many reefs across the wider Caribbean basin, as declines in coral cover and rapid increases in the relative abundance of weedy corals have been reported regionally. A coral identity approach to assess species turnover is needed to understand and quantify changes in the functionality of coral reefs.

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“…Individual cores and density standards were visualized as the mean voxel intensity of a~3.00 mm thick digital slice using standardized window widths and window levels in the software Horos (version 2.4.1) and exported as an image for measuring growth rates in Coral XDS [51]. To quantify density from CT image intensity following established methods [52][53][54][55], linear models between known density and CT intensity of the density reference materials for three independent scans were derived using the function lm in the statistical package R version 4.0.2 [56]. Transects were analyzed along the major growth axis of individual polyps to quantify mean extension and intensity of subsequent high and low intensity bands using the half range mode and converted to skeletal density using the density calibration curves for each scan.…”

Section: Quantification Of Linear Extension Skeletal Density and Camentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Linear mixed effects modeling was used to detect the fixed effects of winter NAO index, species, site, and the interactions between the winter NAO index and species or site on annual calcification rates for the duration of the NAO index (i.e., 1950-2015) using the R package nlme [62]. This analytical approach was used to account for nesting of calcification rates within each core and data imbalances generated by variable lengths of core time series data with the capacity to detect small trends in coral calcification rates following established methods [53,55,63]. Briefly, each coral core was treated as an individual sampling unit with annual calcification rates nested within each core.…”

Section: Linear Mixed Effects Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coral calcification responses to the North Atlantic Oscillation and coral bleaching in Bermuda

2020

Self Cite

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The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has been hypothesized to drive interannual variability in Bermudan coral extension rates and reef-scale calcification through the provisioning of nutritional pulses associated with negative NAO winters. However, the direct influence of the NAO on Bermudan coral calcification rates remains to be determined and may vary between species and reef sites owing to implicit differences in coral life history strategies and environmental gradients across the Bermuda reef platform. In this study, we investigated the connection between negative NAO winters and Bermudan Diploria labyrinthiformis, Pseudodiploria strigosa, and Orbicella franksi coral calcification rates across rim reef, lagoon, and nearshore reef sites. Linear mixed effects modeling detected an inverse correlation between D. labyrinthiformis calcification rates and the winter NAO index, with higher rates associated with increasingly negative NAO winters. Conversely, there were no detectable correlations between P. strigosa or O. franksi calcification rates and the winter NAO index suggesting that coral calcification responses associated with negative NAO winters could be species-specific. The correlation between coral calcification rates and winter NAO index was significantly more negative at the outer rim of the reef (Hog Reef) compared to a nearshore reef site (Whalebone Bay), possibly indicating differential influence of the NAO as a function of the distance from the reef edge. Furthermore, a negative calcification anomaly was observed in 100% of D. labyrinthiformis cores in association with the 1988 coral bleaching event with a subsequent positive calcification anomaly in 1989 indicating a post-bleaching recovery in calcification rates. These results highlight the importance of assessing variable interannual coral calcification responses between species and across inshore-offshore gradients to interannual atmospheric modes such as the NAO, thermal stress events, and potential interactions between ocean warming and availability of coral nutrition to improve projections for future coral calcification rates under climate change.

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Nearshore coral growth declining on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System

Cited by 27 publications

References 78 publications

The past century of coral bleaching in the Saudi Arabian central Red Sea

The past century of coral bleaching in the Saudi Arabian central Red Sea

Recovery disparity between coral cover and the physical functionality of reefs with impaired coral assemblages

Coral calcification responses to the North Atlantic Oscillation and coral bleaching in Bermuda

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