Science Source

Climate change disables coral bleaching protection on the Great Barrier Reef

Shows that bleaching events of the past three decades have been mitigated by induced thermal tolerance of reef-building corals, and this protective mechanism is likely to be lost under near-future climate change scenarios
Shows that 75% of past thermal stress events have been characterized by a temperature trajectory that subjects corals to a protective, sub-bleaching stress, before reaching temperatures that cause bleaching—such conditions confer thermal tolerance, decreasing coral cell mortality and symbiont loss during bleaching by over 50%
Finds that near-future increases in local temperature of as little as 0.5°C result in this protective mechanism being lost, which may increase the rate of degradation of the GBR