School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK.
Nat Commun. 2023 Oct 16;14(1):6528. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-42279-2.
As global temperatures continue to rise, shallow coral reef bleaching has become more intense and widespread. Mesophotic coral ecosystems reside in deeper (30-150 m), cooler water and were thought to offer a refuge to shallow-water reefs. Studies now show that mesophotic coral ecosystems instead have limited connectivity with shallow corals but host diverse endemic communities. Given their extensive distribution and high biodiversity, understanding their susceptibility to warming oceans is imperative. In this multidisciplinary study of an atoll in the Chagos Archipelago in the central Indian Ocean, we show evidence of coral bleaching at 90 m, despite the absence of shallow-water bleaching. We also show that the bleaching was associated with sustained thermocline deepening driven by the Indian Ocean Dipole, which might be further enhanced by internal waves whose influence varied at a sub-atoll scale. Our results demonstrate the potential vulnerability of mesophotic coral ecosystems to thermal stress and highlight the need for oceanographic knowledge to predict bleaching susceptibility and heterogeneity.
随着全球气温持续上升，浅海珊瑚白化现象变得更加剧烈和广泛。中层珊瑚礁生态系统位于更深（30-150 米）、更冷的水中，被认为是浅海珊瑚礁的避难所。但现在的研究表明，中层珊瑚礁与浅珊瑚礁的连通性有限，但却拥有多样的特有群落。鉴于它们广泛的分布和高生物多样性，了解它们对变暖海洋的敏感性至关重要。在这项对印度洋中部查戈斯群岛环礁的多学科研究中，我们在 90 米深处发现了珊瑚白化的证据，尽管没有浅海水域的白化现象。我们还表明，这种白化现象与印度洋偶极子驱动的温跃层持续加深有关，内部波的影响在亚环礁尺度上有所不同，可能会进一步增强这种现象。我们的研究结果表明，中层珊瑚礁生态系统容易受到热应激的影响，并强调需要了解海洋学知识，以预测白化敏感性和异质性。
