Feldman B, Torfstein A, O'Leary M, Blecher N Simon, Yam R, Shaked Y, Shemesh A, Huang D, Levy O
Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
The Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Glob Chang Biol. 2025 Feb;31(2):e70073. doi: 10.1111/gcb.70073.
Coral reefs, known for their remarkable diversity, serve a pivotal function in modulating the global oceanic carbon cycle and act as natural barriers that protect coastlines from erosion and storm surges by dissipating wave energy. Despite their importance, their sensitivity to temperature fluctuations, sea-level shifts and anthropogenic changes in the future is highly unknown. In this study, we create a comprehensive documentation of coral growth, sedimentology and ecology spanning the middle to late Holocene in the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba, northern Red Sea. We then integrate these findings with a reconstruction of the area's environmental conditions over time. The findings reveal a noticeable hiatus of reef growth between 4400 and 1000 years BP (Before Present; "present" being defined as 1950), aligning well with comparable observations made across various locations in the Southern Hemisphere. The coral diversity and abundance along the cores display surprisingly similar patterns before and after the hiatus. This implies that the distinctive coral community thriving during the initial growth phase reappeared nearly 4000 years later, presumably sourced from the deeper reefs. The results are evaluated in the context of a potential sea-level drop and the resilience of coral communities to perturbations of this magnitude. We conclude that the hiatus at this site is due to a combination of factors, including tectonic activity and glacio-eustatic sea-level changes. Our research highlights the critical importance of understanding and managing coral reef ecosystems' responses to sea-level fluctuations to mitigate future impacts on these vulnerable environments.
珊瑚礁以其显著的生物多样性而闻名，在调节全球海洋碳循环中发挥着关键作用，并作为天然屏障，通过消散波浪能量来保护海岸线免受侵蚀和风暴潮的影响。尽管它们很重要，但它们对未来温度波动、海平面变化和人为变化的敏感性却高度未知。在这项研究中，我们全面记录了红海北部埃拉特湾/亚喀巴湾全新世中期至晚期的珊瑚生长、沉积学和生态学。然后，我们将这些发现与该地区随时间变化的环境条件重建相结合。研究结果揭示了在距今4400年至1000年之间（“现在”定义为1950年）珊瑚礁生长存在明显的间断，这与在南半球不同地点进行的类似观测结果非常吻合。岩芯沿线的珊瑚多样性和丰度在间断前后呈现出惊人的相似模式。这意味着在初始生长阶段蓬勃发展的独特珊瑚群落大约在4000年后再次出现，推测其来源是更深的珊瑚礁。我们在潜在海平面下降以及珊瑚群落对这种规模扰动的恢复力的背景下对结果进行了评估。我们得出结论，该地点的间断是由多种因素共同造成的，包括构造活动和冰川 - 海平面变化。我们的研究强调了理解和管理珊瑚礁生态系统对海平面波动的反应对于减轻未来对这些脆弱环境影响的至关重要性。
