Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia.
Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia.
Mar Environ Res. 2024 Jan;193:106276. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2023.106276. Epub 2023 Nov 19.
Coral bleaching events have become more frequent and severe due to ocean warming. While the large-scale impacts of bleaching events are well-known, there is growing recognition of the importance of small-scale spatial variation in bleaching and survival probability of individual coral colonies. By quantifying bleaching in 108 massive Porites colonies spread across Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, during the 2016 bleaching event, we investigated how hydrodynamic exposure levels and colony size contribute to local variability in bleaching prevalence and extent. Our results revealed that exposed locations were the least impacted by bleaching, while lagoonal areas exhibited the highest prevalence of bleaching and colony-level bleaching extents. Such patterns of bleaching could be due to prolonged exposure to warm water in the lagoon. These findings highlight the importance of considering location-specific factors when assessing coral health and emphasize the vulnerability of corals in lagoonal habitats to rapid and/or prolonged elevated temperatures.
由于海洋变暖，珊瑚白化事件变得更加频繁和严重。虽然白化事件的大规模影响众所周知，但人们越来越认识到白化和个别珊瑚群体存活概率的小尺度空间变化的重要性。通过在 2016 年白化事件期间对蜥蜴岛大堡礁上的 108 个大型石珊瑚群体进行白化量化，我们研究了水动力暴露水平和群体大小如何导致白化流行率和范围的局部变化。我们的研究结果表明，暴露位置受白化影响最小，而泻湖区则表现出最高的白化流行率和群体白化程度。这种白化模式可能是由于泻湖中长期暴露于温暖的水中。这些发现强调了在评估珊瑚健康时考虑特定位置因素的重要性，并强调了泻湖生境中珊瑚对快速和/或长时间高温的脆弱性。
