Apr 15, 2016
Climate change disables coral bleaching protection on the Great Barrier Reef
by
,
Science
- 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