Carbonate production of Micronesian reefs suppressed by thermal anomalies and Acanthaster as sea-level rises.

ABSTRACT: Coral reefs are essential to millions of island inhabitants. Yet, coral reefs are threatened by thermal anomalies associated with climate change and by local disturbances that include land-use change, pollution, and the coral-eating sea star Acanthaster solaris. In combination, these disturbances cause coral mortality that reduce the capacity of reefs to produce enough carbonate to keep up with sea-level rise. This study compared the reef-building capacity of shallow-water inner, patch, and outer reefs in the two islands of Pohnpei and Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia. We identified which reefs were likely to keep up with sea-level rise under different climate-change scenarios, and estimated whether there were differences across habitats in the threshold of percentage coral cover at

SUBMITTER: van Woesik R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6857905 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature