High Frequency Temperature Variability Reduces the Risk of Coral Bleaching

Authors

Aryan Safaie
Nyssa J. Silbiger
Timothy R. McClanahan
Geno Pawlak
Daniel J. Barshis, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
James L. Hench
Gareth J. Williams
Kristen A. Davis

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

DOI

10.1038/s41467-018-04074-2

Publication Title

Nature Communications

Volume

9

Pages

1671 (12 pages)

Abstract

Coral bleaching is the detrimental expulsion of algal symbionts from their cnidarian hosts, and predominantly occurs when corals are exposed to thermal stress. The incidence and severity of bleaching is often spatially heterogeneous within reef-scales (km), and is therefore not predictable using conventional remote sensing products. Here, we systematically assess the relationship between in situ measurements of 20 environmental variables, along with seven remotely sensed SST thermal stress metrics, and 81 observed bleaching events at coral reef locations spanning five major reef regions globally. We find that high-frequency temperature variability (i.e., daily temperature range) was the most influential factor in predicting bleaching prevalence and had a mitigating effect, such that a 1 °C increase in daily temperature range would reduce the odds of more severe bleaching by a factor of 33. Our findings suggest that reefs with greater high-frequency temperature variability may represent particularly important opportunities to conserve coral ecosystems against the major threat posed by warming ocean temperatures.

Comments

Author Correction as cited below is included as a supplemental file.

Safaie, A., Silbiger, N. J., McClanahan, T. R., Pawlak, G., Barshis, D. J., Hench, J. L., … Davis, K. A. (2018). Author Correction: High frequency temperature variability reduces the risk of coral bleaching. Nature Communications, 9, 2244. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04741-4

Rights

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Original Publication Citation

Safaie, A., Silbiger, N. J., McClanahan, T. R., Pawlak, G., Barshis, D. J., Hench, J. L., . . . Davis, K. A. (2018). High frequency temperature variability reduces the risk of coral bleaching. Nature communications, 9, 1671. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04074-2

Repository Citation

Safaie, Aryan; Silbiger, Nyssa J.; McClanahan, Timothy R.; Pawlak, Geno; Barshis, Daniel J.; Hench, James L.; Williams, Gareth J.; and Davis, Kristen A., "High Frequency Temperature Variability Reduces the Risk of Coral Bleaching" (2018). Biological Sciences Faculty Publications. 270.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/biology_fac_pubs/270

ORCID

0000-0003-1510-8375 (Barshis)