Coral reef resilience persisted for a millennium but has declined rapidly in recent decades
The lack of long-term records of coral community composition restricts our understanding of the contemporary ecological states of tropical reefs. Here we integrated paleo-ecological reconstruction, historical mortality evidence, and ecological survey data to determine the temporal variability in ree...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1143728/full |
| _version_ | 1797897170376982528 |
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| author | Ting Zhang Ting Zhang Tianran Chen Sheng Liu Xianzhi Lin Shu Li Wen Yan |
| author_facet | Ting Zhang Ting Zhang Tianran Chen Sheng Liu Xianzhi Lin Shu Li Wen Yan |
| author_sort | Ting Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The lack of long-term records of coral community composition restricts our understanding of the contemporary ecological states of tropical reefs. Here we integrated paleo-ecological reconstruction, historical mortality evidence, and ecological survey data to determine the temporal variability in reef resilience of the Nansha atolls in the tropical western Pacific. Subfossil coral assemblages extracted from the reef cores exhibited no evidence of community shifts attributable to centennial-scale changes in El Niño variability during the last millennium, suggesting long-term stability in community structure and persistence of reef resilience. By contrast, ecological surveys revealed a major collapse in the reef ecosystem, and high-precision U-series dating of dead Acropora fragments indicated that this collapse occurred in recent decades and was especially relevant to several strong/extreme El Niño episodes. Frequent and intensive El Niño−Southern Oscillation and marine heatwaves have overwhelmed the reefs’ resistive and recovery capacity, thereby impairing reef resilience. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T07:54:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a0b4c0f99ee54a7681e7d46e076462b1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T07:54:26Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-a0b4c0f99ee54a7681e7d46e076462b12023-02-23T06:38:08ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452023-02-011010.3389/fmars.2023.11437281143728Coral reef resilience persisted for a millennium but has declined rapidly in recent decadesTing Zhang0Ting Zhang1Tianran Chen2Sheng Liu3Xianzhi Lin4Shu Li5Wen Yan6Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, ChinaUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaKey Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, ChinaKey Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, ChinaKey Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, ChinaKey Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, ChinaKey Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, ChinaThe lack of long-term records of coral community composition restricts our understanding of the contemporary ecological states of tropical reefs. Here we integrated paleo-ecological reconstruction, historical mortality evidence, and ecological survey data to determine the temporal variability in reef resilience of the Nansha atolls in the tropical western Pacific. Subfossil coral assemblages extracted from the reef cores exhibited no evidence of community shifts attributable to centennial-scale changes in El Niño variability during the last millennium, suggesting long-term stability in community structure and persistence of reef resilience. By contrast, ecological surveys revealed a major collapse in the reef ecosystem, and high-precision U-series dating of dead Acropora fragments indicated that this collapse occurred in recent decades and was especially relevant to several strong/extreme El Niño episodes. Frequent and intensive El Niño−Southern Oscillation and marine heatwaves have overwhelmed the reefs’ resistive and recovery capacity, thereby impairing reef resilience.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1143728/fullreef resiliencebranching coralpaleo-ecological reconstructionEl Niñomarine heatwavestropical atoll |
| spellingShingle | Ting Zhang Ting Zhang Tianran Chen Sheng Liu Xianzhi Lin Shu Li Wen Yan Coral reef resilience persisted for a millennium but has declined rapidly in recent decades Frontiers in Marine Science reef resilience branching coral paleo-ecological reconstruction El Niño marine heatwaves tropical atoll |
| title | Coral reef resilience persisted for a millennium but has declined rapidly in recent decades |
| title_full | Coral reef resilience persisted for a millennium but has declined rapidly in recent decades |
| title_fullStr | Coral reef resilience persisted for a millennium but has declined rapidly in recent decades |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coral reef resilience persisted for a millennium but has declined rapidly in recent decades |
| title_short | Coral reef resilience persisted for a millennium but has declined rapidly in recent decades |
| title_sort | coral reef resilience persisted for a millennium but has declined rapidly in recent decades |
| topic | reef resilience branching coral paleo-ecological reconstruction El Niño marine heatwaves tropical atoll |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1143728/full |
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