Ocean currents magnify upwelling and deliver nutritional subsidies to reef-building corals during El Nino heatwaves.

ABSTRACT: Marine heatwaves are triggering coral bleaching events and devastating coral populations globally, highlighting the need to identify processes promoting coral survival. Here, we show that acceleration of a major ocean current and shallowing of the surface mixed layer enhanced localized upwelling on a central Pacific coral reef during the three strongest El Niño-associated marine heatwaves of the past half century. These conditions mitigated regional declines in primary production and bolstered local supply of nutritional resources to corals during a bleaching event. The reefs subsequently suffered limited post-bleaching coral mortality. Our results reveal how large-scale ocean-climate interactions affect reef ecosystems thousands of kilometers away and provide a valuable framework for iden

SUBMITTER: Fox MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10266739 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature