Bleaching drives collapse in reef carbonate budgets and reef growth potential on southern Maldives reefs.

ABSTRACT: Sea-surface temperature (SST) warming events, which are projected to increase in frequency and intensity with climate change, represent major threats to coral reefs. How these events impact reef carbonate budgets, and thus the capacity of reefs to sustain vertical growth under rising sea levels, remains poorly quantified. Here we quantify the magnitude of changes that followed the ENSO-induced SST warming that affected the Indian Ocean region in mid-2016. Resultant coral bleaching caused an average 75% reduction in coral cover (present mean 6.2%). Most critically we report major declines in shallow fore-reef carbonate budgets, these shifting from strongly net positive (mean 5.92 G, where G = kg CaCO₃ m^-2 yr^-1) to strongly net negative (mean -2.96 G). These

SUBMITTER: Perry CT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5233991 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature