Estimating the effect of multiple environmental stressors on coral bleaching and mortality.

ABSTRACT: Coral cover has been declining in recent decades due to increased temperatures and environmental stressors. However, the extent to which different stressors contribute both individually and in concert to bleaching and mortality is still very uncertain. We develop and use a novel regression approach, using non-linear parametric models that control for unobserved time invariant effects to estimate the effects on coral bleaching and mortality due to temperature, solar radiation, depth, hurricanes and anthropogenic stressors using historical data from a large bleaching event in 2005 across the Caribbean. Two separate models are created, one to predict coral bleaching, and the other to predict near-term mortality. A large ensemble of supporting data is assembled to control for omitted variable

SUBMITTER: Welle PD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5417430 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature