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CORAL REEF DECLINE & REVIVAL

 

Anthozoa:  Cnidaria

 

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       The climatic changes causing temperatures to rise are included in this section as it is a byproduct of human activity that results in rising ocean temperatures, and the presence of one kind of fish is required for coral reefs to flourish.  By 2023 over seventy percent of coral reefs in many parts of the world have perished from the increased heat. 

 

       The coral reef around Vostok Island in the central Pacific of French Polynesia went from pristine to mauled by heat to thriving again in four years (Sala 2022).  The 2015 to 2016 El Nino killed most of the cauliflower corals, but the leafy heat tolerant Montiora colonized to revived the reef.  The researchers report that this was the most astonishing and heartening coral rebirth the world has ever seen (Sala 2022). 

 

Dead reef covered with algae 2016

Reef revived 4 years later

 

       It is recommended that as coral reefs harbor more biodiversity than any other ocean ecosystem, as well as they furnish food for millions of people and protect land shores from tropical storms more attention is essential.  Protection from fishing is required for a reef to be able to regenerate with parrotfish being especially important in the recovery process.

 

Parrotfish feeding on

crustose algae

 

       If the ocean temperatures continue to increase, however, it is unknown if reefs would be able to recover as was shown in the current research (Sala 222).

 

REFERENCES

 

Dinsdale, Elizabeth A., Pantos, Olga, Smriga, Steven, Edwards, Robert A., Angly, Florence, Wegley, Linda, Hatay, Mark, Hall, Dana, Brown, Elysa, Haynes, Matthew, Krause, Lutz, Sala, Enric, Sandin, Stuart A., Thurber, Rebecca Vega, Willis, Bette L., Azam, Farooq, Knowlton, Nancy, and Rohwer, Forest.  2008.  Microbial ecology for four coral atolls in the Northern Line Islands. PLoS Biology, 3 (2). pp. 1-17.

 

Jackson, Jeremy B.C., Ogden, John C., Pandolfi, John M., Baron, Nancy, Bradbury, Rodger H., Guzman, Hector M., Hughes, Terry, Kappel, Carrie V., Micheli, Fiorenza, Possingham, Hugh P., and Sala, Enric.  2005.  Reassessing U.S. coral reefs. Science, 308 (5729). pp. 1740-1742.

 

Pandolfi, J.M., Jackson, J.B.C., Baron, N., Bradbury, R.H., Guzman, H.M., Hughes, T.P., Kappel, C.V., Micheli, F., Ogden, J.C., Possingham, H.P., and Sala, E.  2005.  Are U.S. coral reefs on the slippery slope to slime? Science, 307 (5716). pp. 1725-1726.

 

Pandolfi, John M., Bradbury, Roger H., Sala, Enric, Hughes, Terrence P., Bjorndal, Karen A., Cooke, Richard G., McArdle, Deborah, McClenachan, Loren, Newman, Marah J.H., Paredes, Gustavo, Warner, Robert R., and Jackson, Jeremy B.C.  2003.   Response to Causes of coral reef degradation [Aronson et al. (2003) Causes of coral reef degradation]. Science, 302 (5650). pp. 1502-1503.

 

Pandolfi, John M., Bradbury, Roger H., Sala, Enric, Hughes, Terry, Bjorndal, Karen A., Cooke, Richard G., McArdle, Deborah, McClenachan, Loren, Newman, Marah J.H., Paredes, Gustavo, Warner, Robert R., and Jackson, Jeremy B.C.   2003.  Global trajectories of the long-term decline of coral reef ecosystems. Science, 301 (5635). pp. 955-958

 

Sala, Enric.  2022.  Devastated by warming in 2016, protected coral reefs around the Southern Line Islands have made an amazing recovery.  National Geographic Magazine, Nov. 2022, pp. 104-121.