Squid could thrive under climate change
Squid will survive and may even flourish under even the worst-case ocean acidification scenarios, according to a new study published this week. Dr Blake Spady, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for C
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
The world’s reefs are under siege from global warming, according to a novel study published today in the prestigious journal Science.
For the first time, an international team of researchers has measured the escalating rate of coral bleaching at locations throughout the tropics over the past four decades. The study documents a dramatic shortening of the gap between pairs of bleaching events, threatening the future existence of these iconic ecosystems and the livelihoods of many millions of people.
“The time between bleaching events at each location has diminished five-fold in the past 3-4 decades, from once every 25-30 years in the early 1980s to an average of just once every six years since 2010,” says lead author Prof Terry Hughes, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE).
“Before the 1980s, mass bleaching of corals was unheard of, even during strong El Niño conditions, but now repeated bouts of regional-scale bleaching and mass mortality of corals has become the new normal around the world as temperatures continue to rise.”
The study establishes a transition from a period before the 1980s when bleaching only occurred locally, to an intermediate stage in the 1980s and 1990s when mass bleaching was first recorded during warmer than average El Niño conditions, and finally to the current era when climate-driven bleaching is now occurring throughout ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) cycles.
The researchers show that tropical sea temperatures are warmer today during cooler than average La Niña conditions than they were 40 years ago during El Niño periods.
“Coral bleaching is a stress response caused by exposure of coral reefs to elevated ocean temperatures. When bleaching is severe and prolonged, many of the corals die. It takes at least a decade to replace even the fastest-growing species,” explained co-author Prof Andrew Baird of Coral CoE.
“Reefs have entered a distinctive human-dominated era – the Anthropocene,” said co-author, Dr C. Mark Eakin of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, USA. “The climate has warmed rapidly in the past 50 years, first making El Niños dangerous for corals, and now we’re seeing the emergence of bleaching in every hot summer.”
“For example, the Great Barrier Reef has now bleached four times since 1998, including for the first time during back-to-back events in 2016 and 2017, causing unprecedented damage,” explained Prof Hughes. “Yet the Australian government continues to support fossil fuels.”
“We hope our stark results will help spur on the stronger action needed to reduce greenhouse gases in Australia, the United States and elsewhere,” says Prof Hughes.
The paper “Spatial and temporal patterns of mass bleaching of corals in the Anthropocene” is now available here.
IMAGES
Images must carry credits as listed in Dropbox folder:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/81s55plybbqz04b/AACuFcDjnP_-Ywid9RXsVdEKa?dl=0
CONTACTS FOR INTERVIEWS
Prof Andrew Baird
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University
Phone: +61 (0) 400 289 770 (currently in Sydney, AEDT/UTC +11)
Email: Andrew.Baird@jcu.edu.au
Associate Professor Julia Baum
University of Victoria, Department of Biology
Victoria, BC CANADA
Phone: 1-250-858-9349 (PST/UTC -8)
Email: baum@uvic.ca
Associate Professor Michael Berumen
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Red Sea Research Center
Thuwal, SAUDI ARABIA
Phone: +966 544 700 019 (available from 3-4 Jan, MSK/UTC + 3; 5-7 Jan, CET/UTC + 1)
Email: michael.berumen@kaust.edu.sa
C. Mark Eakin, Ph. D.
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
Silver Spring, MD U.S.A.
Phone: 1-301-502-8608 (EST/UTC -5)
Email: mark.eakin@noaa.gov
Prof Nicholas Graham
Lancaster University, Lancaster Environment Centre
Lancaster, UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 (0) 7479 438 914 (available from 4 Jan, GMT/UTC)
Email: nick.graham@lancaster.ac.uk
Prof Terry Hughes
Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Townsville, QLD AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61 (0) 400 720 164 (NZDT/UTC +13)
Email: Terry.Hughes@jcu.edu.au
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Catherine Naum
Communications Manager
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University
Townsville, QLD AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61 (0)7 4781 6067, +61 (0) 428 785 895 (AEST/UTC +10)
Email: Catherine.Naum1@jcu.edu.au
Squid will survive and may even flourish under even the worst-case ocean acidification scenarios, according to a new study published this week. Dr Blake Spady, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for C
Scientists have revealed the torrid, adulterous love lives of the mouth-brooding cardinalfish, with cuckoldry going hand-in-hand with cannibalism of the young.“This is a small and unassuming cor
A new study published today in Nature Climate Change finds coral reefs are under threat from ocean acidification.The study was led by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef S
New research has revealed that the short lives and violent deaths of some of coral reefs’ smallest tenants may be vital to the health of reef systems, including the iconic Great Barrier Reef.Dr
China’s extraordinary economic development over recent decades has had enormous impacts on coastal marine ecosystems, including extensive, coastal coral reefs in the southern provinces. With around
Pesticides (particularly herbicides and insecticides) are detected ubiquitously in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region waterways. This is largely as the GBR has relatively comprehensive long-term moni
In 2016, JCU joined the pilot of the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Athena SWAN program. This program aims to move towards gender equity in STEMM at universities and research institutes acr
Most of the world's coral reefs are periodically exposed to heavy seas generated by tropical cyclones which can cause major structural damage to corals that, over time, can play a key role in shaping
Anthropogenic global heating has emerged as a major driver of the trajectory of the world’s coral reefs. Pan-tropical coral bleaching (affecting >94% of coral reefs) has now occurred three times
Corals and sponges are morphologically simple organisms, playing key roles in the ecosystems they build and maintain, providing habitats for other species of animals, plants and microbes: branching st
This seminar will provide an overview of our recent adventures into bio-imaging and analysis with particular focus toward understanding structure and interaction at the scale of a single cell and/or i
Adaptation to climate change has been traditionally studied at the scale of the individual, with studies either looking at vulnerability or focusing on specific adaptation actions and the potential of
Partner Research Institutions
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au