Local conditions magnify coral loss after marine heatwaves

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 372 (6545) ◽  
pp. 977-980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary K. Donovan ◽  
Deron E. Burkepile ◽  
Chelsey Kratochwill ◽  
Tom Shlesinger ◽  
Shannon Sully ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Coral Mortality ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Local Factors ◽  
Global Nature ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change

Climate change threatens coral reefs by causing heat stress events that lead to widespread coral bleaching and mortality. Given the global nature of these mass coral mortality events, recent studies argue that mitigating climate change is the only path to conserve coral reefs. Using a global analysis of 223 sites, we show that local stressors act synergistically with climate change to kill corals. Local factors such as high abundance of macroalgae or urchins magnified coral loss in the year after bleaching. Notably, the combined effects of increasing heat stress and macroalgae intensified coral loss. Our results offer an optimistic premise that effective local management, alongside global efforts to mitigate climate change, can help coral reefs survive the Anthropocene.

Are we sacrificing the future of coral reefs on the altar of the “climate change” narrative?

2019 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-45
Author(s):  
Avigdor Abelson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Untreated Sewage ◽  
Local Protection ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change ◽  
Destructive Fishing

Abstract Following a series of mass-bleaching events that have seriously degraded coral reefs, notably the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, a common narrative is now dominating the discourse, according to which “the only sure way to save the world’s coral reefs is climate change mitigation”. However, climate change is not a sole stressor. Most coral reefs around the world are threatened by a myriad of local stressors, including overfishing, destructive fishing, untreated sewage, agriculture effluents (nutrients and pesticides), and siltation due to deforestation. Reefs will not survive the severe effects of this plethora of stressors while waiting until we mitigate climate change. In order to safeguard reefs, we need to adopt a new narrative—“there are diverse ways in which we can improve the chances of saving coral reefs”—by acting now to: (i) improve their local protection and marine protected area networks, (ii) alleviate their critical local stressors, (iii) restore degraded and damaged reefs, and (iv) promote reef resilience and adaptation (e.g. adaptation networks, assisted evolution) to the changing conditions, notably climate change effects. It is time for us to move on from the impractical goals of the climate change narrative (“interventions beyond our field of expertise”) to building up resilience and adaptation of social-ecological systems of coral reefs.

scholarly journals Coral reefs in the Gilbert Islands of Kiribati: Resistance, resilience, and recovery after more than a decade of multiple stressors

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0255304
Author(s):  
Sara E. Cannon ◽  
Erietera Aram ◽  
Toaea Beiateuea ◽  
Aranteiti Kiareti ◽  
Max Peter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
Phase Shift ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Hard Coral ◽  
Turf Algae ◽  
The World ◽  
Coral Communities

Coral reefs are increasingly affected by a combination of acute and chronic disturbances from climate change and local stressors. The coral reefs of the Republic of Kiribati’s Gilbert Islands are exposed to frequent heat stress caused by central-Pacific type El Niño events, and may provide a glimpse into the future of coral reefs in other parts of the world, where the frequency of heat stress events will likely increase due to climate change. Reefs in the Gilbert Islands experienced a series of acute disturbances over the past fifteen years, including mass coral bleaching in 2004–2005 and 2009–2010, and an outbreak of the corallivorous sea star Acanthaster cf solaris, or Crown-of-Thorns (CoTs), in 2014. The local chronic pressures including nutrient loading, sedimentation and fishing vary within the island chain, with highest pressures on the reefs in urbanized South Tarawa Atoll. In this study, we examine how recovery from acute disturbances differs across a gradient of human influence in neighboring Tarawa and Abaiang Atolls from 2012 through 2018. Benthic cover and size frequency data suggests that local coral communities have adjusted to the heat stress via shifts in the community composition to more temperature-tolerant taxa and individuals. In densely populated South Tarawa, we document a phase shift to the weedy and less bleaching-sensitive coral Porites rus, which accounted for 81% of all coral cover by 2018. By contrast, in less populated Abaiang, coral communities remained comparatively more diverse (with higher percentages of Pocillopora and the octocoral Heliopora) after the disturbances, but reefs had lower overall hard coral cover (18%) and were dominated by turf algae (41%). The CoTs outbreak caused a decline in the cover and mean size of massive Porites, the only taxa that was a ‘winner’ of the coral bleaching events in Abaiang. Although there are signs of recovery, the long-term trajectory of the benthic communities in Abaiang is not yet clear. We suggest three scenarios: they may remain in their current state (dominated by turf algae), undergo a phase shift to dominance by the macroalgae Halimeda, or recover to dominance by thermally tolerant hard coral genera. These findings provide a rare glimpse at the future of coral reefs around the world and the ways they may be affected by climate change, which may allow scientists to better predict how other reefs will respond to increasing heat stress events across gradients of local human disturbance.

scholarly journals Public Awareness: What Climate Change Scientists Should Consider

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8369
Author(s):  
Mohammad Rahimi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Connected Network ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Valuable Addition ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Design Solutions ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change

In this Opinion, the importance of public awareness to design solutions to mitigate climate change issues is highlighted. A large-scale acknowledgment of the climate change consequences has great potential to build social momentum. Momentum, in turn, builds motivation and demand, which can be leveraged to develop a multi-scale strategy to tackle the issue. The pursuit of public awareness is a valuable addition to the scientific approach to addressing climate change issues. The Opinion is concluded by providing strategies on how to effectively raise public awareness on climate change-related topics through an integrated, well-connected network of mavens (e.g., scientists) and connectors (e.g., social media influencers).

scholarly journals Open Intellectual Property Models for Plant Innovations in the Context of New Breeding Technologies

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1218
Author(s):  
Michael A. Kock
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Open Innovation ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change ◽  
New Breeding Technologies

Plant related innovations are critical to enable of food security and mitigate climate change. New breeding technologies (NBTs) based on emerging genome editing technologies like CRISPR/Cas will facilitate “breeding-by-editing” and enable complex breeding targets—like climate resilience or water use efficiency—in shorter time and at lower costs. However, NBTs will also lead to an unprecedented patent complexity. This paper discusses implications and potential solutions for open innovation models.

scholarly journals Nitrogen enrichment in macroalgae following mass coral mortality

Coral Reefs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor J. Vaughan ◽  
Shaun K. Wilson ◽  
Samantha J. Howlett ◽  
Valeriano Parravicini ◽  
Gareth J. Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Mass Mortality ◽  
Transplant Experiment ◽  
Bleaching Event ◽  
Coral Mortality ◽  
Absolute Increase ◽  
Inorganic Matter

AbstractScleractinian corals are engineers on coral reefs that provide both structural complexity as habitat and sustenance for other reef-associated organisms via the release of organic and inorganic matter. However, coral reefs are facing multiple pressures from climate change and other stressors, which can result in mass coral bleaching and mortality events. Mass mortality of corals results in enhanced release of organic matter, which can cause significant alterations to reef biochemical and recycling processes. There is little known about how long these nutrients are retained within the system, for instance, within the tissues of other benthic organisms. We investigated changes in nitrogen isotopic signatures (δ15N) of macroalgal tissues (a) ~ 1 year after a bleaching event in the Seychelles and (b) ~ 3 months after the peak of a bleaching event in Mo’orea, French Polynesia. In the Seychelles, there was a strong association between absolute loss in both total coral cover and branching coral cover and absolute increase in macroalgal δ15N between 2014 and 2017 (adjusted r2 = 0.79, p = 0.004 and adjusted r2 = 0.86, p = 0.002, respectively). In Mo’orea, a short-term transplant experiment found a significant increase in δ15N in Sargassum mangarevense after specimens were deployed on a reef with high coral mortality for ~ 3 weeks (p < 0.05). We suggest that coral-derived nutrients can be retained within reef nutrient cycles, and that this can affect other reef-associated organisms over both short- and long-term periods, especially opportunistic species such as macroalgae. These species could therefore proliferate on reefs that have experienced mass mortality events, because they have been provided with both space and nutrient subsidies by the death and decay of corals.

scholarly journals Simulating Agroforestry Adoption in Rural Indonesia: The Potential of Trees on Farms for Livelihoods and Environment

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 385
Author(s):  
Beatrice Nöldeke ◽  
Etti Winter ◽  
Yves Laumonier ◽  
Trifosa Simamora
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Scenario ◽  
Agroforestry System ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Change Scenario ◽  
Trees On Farms ◽  
Agroforestry Adoption ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change ◽  
Small Scale Farmers

In recent years, agroforestry has gained increasing attention as an option to simultaneously alleviate poverty, provide ecological benefits, and mitigate climate change. The present study simulates small-scale farmers’ agroforestry adoption decisions to investigate the consequences for livelihoods and the environment over time. To explore the interdependencies between agroforestry adoption, livelihoods, and the environment, an agent-based model adjusted to a case study area in rural Indonesia was implemented. Thereby, the model compares different scenarios, including a climate change scenario. The agroforestry system under investigation consists of an illipe (Shorea stenoptera) rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) mix, which are both locally valued tree species. The simulations reveal that farmers who adopt agroforestry diversify their livelihood portfolio while increasing income. Additionally, the model predicts environmental benefits: enhanced biodiversity and higher carbon sequestration in the landscape. The benefits of agroforestry for livelihoods and nature gain particular importance in the climate change scenario. The results therefore provide policy-makers and practitioners with insights into the dynamic economic and environmental advantages of promoting agroforestry.

scholarly journals Winter Wheat Adaptation to Climate Change in Turkey

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 689
Author(s):  
Yuksel Kaya
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Winter Wheat ◽  
Grain Yield ◽  
Spring Wheat ◽  
Control Treatment ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Wheat Genotypes ◽  
Plant Characteristics

Climate change scenarios reveal that Turkey’s wheat production area is under the combined effects of heat and drought stresses. The adverse effects of climate change have just begun to be experienced in Turkey’s spring and the winter wheat zones. However, climate change is likely to affect the winter wheat zone more severely. Fortunately, there is a fast, repeatable, reliable and relatively affordable way to predict climate change effects on winter wheat (e.g., testing winter wheat in the spring wheat zone). For this purpose, 36 wheat genotypes in total, consisting of 14 spring and 22 winter types, were tested under the field conditions of the Southeastern Anatolia Region, a representative of the spring wheat zone of Turkey, during the two cropping seasons (2017–2018 and 2019–2020). Simultaneous heat (>30 °C) and drought (<40 mm) stresses occurring in May and June during both growing seasons caused drastic losses in winter wheat grain yield and its components. Declines in plant characteristics of winter wheat genotypes, compared to those of spring wheat genotypes using as a control treatment, were determined as follows: 46.3% in grain yield, 23.7% in harvest index, 30.5% in grains per spike and 19.4% in thousand kernel weight, whereas an increase of 282.2% in spike sterility occurred. On the other hand, no substantial changes were observed in plant height (10 cm longer than that of spring wheat) and on days to heading (25 days more than that of spring wheat) of winter wheat genotypes. In general, taller winter wheat genotypes tended to lodge. Meanwhile, it became impossible to avoid the combined effects of heat and drought stresses during anthesis and grain filling periods because the time to heading of winter wheat genotypes could not be shortened significantly. In conclusion, our research findings showed that many winter wheat genotypes would not successfully adapt to climate change. It was determined that specific plant characteristics such as vernalization requirement, photoperiod sensitivity, long phenological duration (lack of earliness per se) and vulnerability to diseases prevailing in the spring wheat zone, made winter wheat difficult to adapt to climate change. The most important strategic step that can be taken to overcome these challenges is that Turkey’s wheat breeding program objectives should be harmonized with the climate change scenarios.

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