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Research papers on Coral reef bleaching

Recent and highly-cited academic work on coral reef bleaching, gathered from Semantic Scholar, CrossRef and OpenAlex.

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  1. Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification

    Ove Hoegh‐Guldberg, Peter J. Mumby, Anthony J. Hooten, et al. · 2007 · Science · 5,963 citations

    Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is expected to exceed 500 parts per million and global temperatures to rise by at least 2 degrees C by 2050 to 2100, values that significantly exceed those of at least the past 420,000 years during which most extant marine organisms evolved. Under conditions expected in the 21st century, global warming and ocean acidification will compromise carbonate accretion, with corals becoming increasingly rare on reef systems. The result will be less diverse reef communities and carbonate reef structures that fail to be maintained. Climate change also exacerbates local stresses from declining water quality and overexploitation of key species, driving reefs incr

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  3. Spatial and temporal patterns of mass bleaching of corals in the Anthropocene

    Terry P. Hughes, Kristen D. Anderson, Sean R. Connolly, et al. · 2018 · Science · 2,261 citations

    Tropical reef systems are transitioning to a new era in which the interval between recurrent bouts of coral bleaching is too short for a full recovery of mature assemblages. We analyzed bleaching records at 100 globally distributed reef locations from 1980 to 2016. The median return time between pairs of severe bleaching events has diminished steadily since 1980 and is now only 6 years. As global warming has progressed, tropical sea surface temperatures are warmer now during current La Niña conditions than they were during El Niño events three decades ago. Consequently, as we transition to the Anthropocene, coral bleaching is occurring more frequently in all El Niño-Southern Oscillation phas

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  4. The 27–year decline of coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef and its causes

    Glenn De’ath, Katharina Fabricius, Hugh Sweatman, et al. · 2012 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 1,918 citations

    The world's coral reefs are being degraded, and the need to reduce local pressures to offset the effects of increasing global pressures is now widely recognized. This study investigates the spatial and temporal dynamics of coral cover, identifies the main drivers of coral mortality, and quantifies the rates of potential recovery of the Great Barrier Reef. Based on the world's most extensive time series data on reef condition (2,258 surveys of 214 reefs over 1985-2012), we show a major decline in coral cover from 28.0% to 13.8% (0.53% y(-1)), a loss of 50.7% of initial coral cover. Tropical cyclones, coral predation by crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS), and coral bleaching accounted for 48%, 42

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  6. Ocean acidification causes bleaching and productivity loss in coral reef builders

    Kenneth R. N. Anthony, David I. Kline, Guillermo Díaz-Pulido, et al. · 2008 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 1,255 citations

    Ocean acidification represents a key threat to coral reefs by reducing the calcification rate of framework builders. In addition, acidification is likely to affect the relationship between corals and their symbiotic dinoflagellates and the productivity of this association. However, little is known about how acidification impacts on the physiology of reef builders and how acidification interacts with warming. Here, we report on an 8-week study that compared bleaching, productivity, and calcification responses of crustose coralline algae (CCA) and branching (Acropora) and massive (Porites) coral species in response to acidification and warming. Using a 30-tank experimental system, we manipulat

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  7. Projecting Coral Reef Futures Under Global Warming and Ocean Acidification

    John M. Pandolfi, Sean R. Connolly, Dustin J. Marshall, et al. · 2011 · Science · 1,219 citations

    Many physiological responses in present-day coral reefs to climate change are interpreted as consistent with the imminent disappearance of modern reefs globally because of annual mass bleaching events, carbonate dissolution, and insufficient time for substantial evolutionary responses. Emerging evidence for variability in the coral calcification response to acidification, geographical variation in bleaching susceptibility and recovery, responses to past climate change, and potential rates of adaptation to rapid warming supports an alternative scenario in which reef degradation occurs with greater temporal and spatial heterogeneity than current projections suggest. Reducing uncertainty in pro

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  8. Coral Reef Ecosystems under Climate Change and Ocean Acidification

    Ove Hoegh‐Guldberg, Elvira S. Poloczanska, William Skirving, et al. · 2017 · Frontiers in Marine Science · 926 citations

    Coral reefs are found in a wide range of environments, where they provide food and habitat to a large range of organisms as well as other ecological goods and services. Warm-water coral reefs, for example, occupy shallow sunlit, warm and alkaline waters in order to grow and calcify at the high rates necessary to build and maintain their calcium carbonate structures. At deeper locations (40 – 150 m), “mesophotic” (low light) coral reefs accumulate calcium carbonate at much lower rates (if at all in some cases) yet remain important as habitat for a wide range of organisms, including those important for fisheries. Finally, even deeper, down to 2000 m or more, the so-called ‘cold-water’ coral re

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  9. Caribbean Corals in Crisis: Record Thermal Stress, Bleaching, and Mortality in 2005

    C. Mark Eakin, JA Morgan, Scott F. Heron, et al. · 2010 · PLoS ONE · 918 citations

    BACKGROUND: The rising temperature of the world's oceans has become a major threat to coral reefs globally as the severity and frequency of mass coral bleaching and mortality events increase. In 2005, high ocean temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean resulted in the most severe bleaching event ever recorded in the basin. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Satellite-based tools provided warnings for coral reef managers and scientists, guiding both the timing and location of researchers' field observations as anomalously warm conditions developed and spread across the greater Caribbean region from June to October 2005. Field surveys of bleaching and mortality exceeded prior efforts i

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  11. Warming Trends and Bleaching Stress of the World’s Coral Reefs 1985–2012

    Scott F. Heron, Jeffrey Maynard, Ruben van Hooidonk, et al. · 2016 · Scientific Reports · 577 citations

    Coral reefs across the world's oceans are in the midst of the longest bleaching event on record (from 2014 to at least 2016). As many of the world's reefs are remote, there is limited information on how past thermal conditions have influenced reef composition and current stress responses. Using satellite temperature data for 1985-2012, the analysis we present is the first to quantify, for global reef locations, spatial variations in warming trends, thermal stress events and temperature variability at reef-scale (~4 km). Among over 60,000 reef pixels globally, 97% show positive SST trends during the study period with 60% warming significantly. Annual trends exceeded summertime trends at most

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  14. Nearshore Turbid-Zone Corals Exhibit High Bleaching Tolerance on the Great Barrier Reef Following the 2016 Ocean Warming Event

    K. Morgan, C. Perry, Jamie A. Johnson, et al. · 2017 · Frontiers in Marine Science · 166 citations

    High sea surface temperatures (SSTs) on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) during summer 2015/2016 caused extensive coral bleaching, with aerial and in-water surveys confirming high (but variable) bleaching-related coral mortality. In contrast, bleaching impacts on nearshore turbid-zone reefs, traditionally considered more “marginal” coral habitats, remain poorly documented. This is because rapid ecological surveys are difficult in these turbid water settings, and baseline coral community data from which to quantify disturbance are rare. However, models suggest that the extreme environmental conditions characteristic of nearshore settings (e.g., fluctuating turbidity, light and temperature) may ac

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  15. Coral reefs benefit from reduced land–sea impacts under ocean warming

    J. Gove, Gareth J. Williams, Joey Lecky, et al. · 2023 · Nature · 112 citations

    Surveys of reef change are combined with a unique 20-year time series of land–sea human impacts and the results show that integrated land–sea management could help achieve coastal ocean conservation goals and provide coral reefs with the best opportunity to persist in our changing climate. Coral reef ecosystems are being fundamentally restructured by local human impacts and climate-driven marine heatwaves that trigger mass coral bleaching and mortality^ 1 . Reducing local impacts can increase reef resistance to and recovery from bleaching^ 2 . However, resource managers lack clear advice on targeted actions that best support coral reefs under climate change^ 3 and sector-based governance mea

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  16. 2023 Record marine heat waves: coral reef bleaching HotSpot maps reveal global sea surface temperature extremes, coral mortality, and ocean circulation changes

    Thomas J F Goreau, R. Hayes · 2024 · Oxford Open Climate Change · 59 citations

    Coral reefs, the most sensitive ecosystem to high temperature, are on the precipice of mass extinction from global warming [1, 2]. 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history on land and in the sea, with dramatic and unexpected temperature increases [3, 4]. Coral Reef Bleaching HotSpot maps provide unique insight into global ocean circulation changes in response to greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing that caused dramatic global temperature rises [1, 2]. The highest excess daily air temperatures recorded in 175 countries, as well as the most prolonged excessive sea surface temperatures, were centered around Jamaica. 2023 marked the worst coral reef bleaching yet in the Northern Hemisphere, with

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  18. Abundance, size, and survival of recruits of the reef coral Pocillopora acuta under ocean warming and acidification

    K. Bahr, Tiana Tran, Christopher P. Jury, et al. · 2020 · PLoS ONE · 43 citations

    Ocean warming and acidification are among the greatest threats to coral reefs. Massive coral bleaching events are becoming increasingly common and are predicted to be more severe and frequent in the near future, putting corals reefs in danger of ecological collapse. This study quantified the abundance, size, and survival of the coral Pocillopora acuta under future projections of ocean warming and acidification. Flow-through mesocosms were exposed to current and future projections of ocean warming and acidification in a factorial design for 22 months. Neither ocean warming or acidification, nor their combination, influenced the size or abundance of P. acuta recruits, but heating impacted subs

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  20. Ocean acidification elicits differential bleaching and gene expression patterns in larval reef coral Pocillopora damicornis under heat stress.

    Lei Jiang, You-Fang Sun, Guowei Zhou, et al. · 2022 · The Science of the total environment · 25 citations

    The successful dispersal of coral larvae is vital to the population replenishment and reef recovery and resilience. Despite that this critical early stage is susceptible to ocean warming and acidification, little is known about the responses of coral larvae to warming and acidification across different biological scales. This study explored the influences of elevated temperature (29 °C versus 33 °C) and pCO2 (500 μatm versus 1000 μatm) on brooded larvae of Pocillopora damicornis at the organismal, cellular and gene expression levels. Heat stress caused bleaching, depressed light-enhanced dark respiration, photosynthesis and autotrophy, whereas high pCO2 stimulated photosynthesis. Although su

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  22. Effects of ocean warming and coral bleaching on aerosol emissions in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

    R. Jackson, A. Gabric, R. Cropp · 2018 · Scientific Reports · 22 citations

    It is proposed that emissions of volatile sulfur compounds by coral reefs contribute to the formation of a biologically-derived feedback on sea surface temperature (SST) through the formation of marine biogenic aerosol (MBA). The direction and strength of this feedback remains uncertain and constitutes a fundamental constraint on predicting the ability of corals to cope with future ocean warming. We investigate the effects of elevated SST and irradiance on satellite-derived fine-mode aerosol optical depth (AOD) throughout the Great Barrier Reef, Australia (GBR) over an 18-year time period. AOD is positively correlated with SST and irradiance and increases two-fold during spring and summer wi

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  23. Severe and widespread coral reef damage during the 2014-2017 Global Coral Bleaching Event

    C. M. Eakin, S. Heron, Sean R. Connolly, et al. · 2026 · Nature Communications · 21 citations

    Ocean warming is increasing the frequency, extent, and severity of tropical-coral bleaching and mortality. During 2014–2017, marine heatwaves caused the Third Global Coral Bleaching Event. We analyze data from 15,066 reef surveys globally during 2014–2017. Across all surveyed reefs, 80% and 35% experienced moderate or greater (affecting >10% of corals) bleaching and mortality, respectively. We assess the global extent of coral bleaching and mortality by applying bleaching response curves calibrated from surveyed reefs to predict bleaching globally, based on comprehensive remote-sensing of heat stress. These models predict that 51% and 15% of the world’s coral reefs suffered moderate or great

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