Mar 20, 2017
Tropical dead zones and mass mortalities on coral reefs
by
,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- States that little is known about the potential threat of hypoxia in the tropics, even though known risk factors like eutrophication and elevated temperatures are common
- Documents an unprecedented hypoxic event on the Caribbean coast of Panama
- Observes shifts in community structure and conducts laboratory experiments on the event, finding that not all coral species are equally sensitive to hypoxia
- Through analysis of global databases, finds that coral reefs are associated with more than half of the known tropical dead zones worldwide
- Finds that >10% of all coral reefs at elevated risk for hypoxia based on local and global risk factors