• Remote Indian Ocean reefs bounce back qu

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Thu Mar 24 22:30:44 2022
    Remote Indian Ocean reefs bounce back quickly after bleaching

    Date:
    March 24, 2022
    Source:
    University of Exeter
    Summary:
    Coral reefs in remote or protected areas can recover quickly after
    mass coral bleaching events, new research shows.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Coral reefs in remote or protected areas can recover quickly after mass
    coral bleaching events, new research shows.


    ========================================================================== University of Exeter researchers are investigating "reef carbonate
    budgets" - - the net production or erosion of reef structure over time.

    To study the impacts of climate change on reef functions, they examined
    12 reefs in the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean before and
    after the global coral bleaching event in 2015/16.

    In 2018, the formerly thriving reefs were "shrinking," with coral cover
    and carbonate production down by more than 70% and erosion processes
    exceeding new coral growth.

    When the researchers returned in 2021, all reefs were on a trajectory
    of recovery, although the speed varied from place to place.

    Where key coral species returned quickly and the underlying physical
    reef structure had stayed intact, reefs showed a rapid transition back
    to positive growth only six years after the bleaching event.



    ========================================================================== Bleaching is caused by warmer water temperatures, which can trigger corals
    to expel their symbiotic algae and turn white. Corals can survive this,
    but an extreme heat wave causes large-scale mortality.

    The speed of subsequent recovery is an important indicator of a reef's
    health and resilience.

    "Such high rates of coral recruitment and the rapid restoration of reef functions are a very nice surprise and imply that this location is showing
    some resilience, thus far, to ongoing ocean warming," said lead author
    Dr Ines Lange, a postdoctoral research fellow in a multi-institutional
    project funded by the Bertarelli Program in Marine Science.

    "A full recovery of reefs across the Chagos Archipelago over the next
    few years is likely if the region is spared from reoccurring marine
    heating events." Dr Lange added: "The study shows that in remote and
    protected areas without local impacts such as fishing or pollution from
    land, coral reefs and the important functions they provide are able to
    recover relatively quickly, even after large-scale disturbances.

    "Proximity to healthy coral populations and the maintenance of a complex
    reef structure seems to boost recovery speed, which may help to manage
    reefs under the threat of increasing frequency of bleaching events
    predicted for the near future." Co-author Professor Chris Perry, from
    the University of Exeter, developed the census-based ReefBudget method
    to quantify reef carbonate budgets.

    These carbonate budgets are important indicators of a reef's ability to
    provide habitat to marine life, protect shorelines from wave energy and
    help reef islands to keep up with future sea level rise.

    Over the last years, Prof Perry and Dr Lange optimised the method for
    the central Indian Ocean by quantifying and integrating local rates of
    coral growth and parrotfish erosion.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Exeter. Note: Content
    may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Ines Lange, Chris Perry and Marleen Stuhr. Recovery trends of reef
    carbonate budgets at remote coral atolls six years post-bleaching.

    Limnology and Oceanography, 2022 [abstract] ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220324104405.htm

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