2023 global heatwave causes mass mortality of a keystone coral on shallow Western Atlantic reefs.

ABSTRACT: In 2023, the world's oceans experienced record-high temperatures, particularly devastating Caribbean reefs. We use drone-derived imagery from before, during, and after the heatwave to quantify the spatial extent of bleaching and mortality of the primary reef-builder, Acropora palmata, across 170,000 m² of shallow reef in Puerto Morelos. We then estimate Caribbean-wide mortality trends by identifying the proportion of reef crests where thermal stress levels surpassed those observed at our site. In Puerto Morelos, 14.29°C-weeks resulted in 100% A. palmata mortality. Nearly 70% of reef crests in the Greater Caribbean reached equal or higher levels, suggesting a catastrophic mass mortality event of the species along its entire shallow-water distributional range. We enc

SUBMITTER: Birkart LV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12595027 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature