Ocean Warming Slows Coral Growth in the Central Red Sea
Ocean Warming Slows Coral Growth in the Central Red Sea
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DOI：
10.1126/science.1190182
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发表时间：
2010-07-16
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
McCorkle, Daniel C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cantin, Neal E.;Cohen, Anne L.;McCorkle, Daniel C.
自20世纪70年代中期以来，热带大部分地区的海面温度（SST）已经升高了0.4℃到1℃。珊瑚白化和死亡的频率及范围同时增加，这引发了人们的担忧，即气候变化对全球珊瑚礁生态系统的生存构成了重大威胁。在此我们表明，稳定上升的海面温度，而非海洋酸化，已经在推动红海中部一种重要的造礁珊瑚的生长发生巨大变化。对块状珊瑚二孔珊瑚（Diploastrea heliopora）进行的三维计算机断层扫描分析显示，自1998年以来，看似健康的珊瑚群落的骨骼生长已经下降了30%。同样的珊瑚对1941/1942年一次短暂的暖事件有反应，但随着海洋冷却在3年内恢复。将我们的数据与政府间气候变化专门委员会的气候模型模拟相结合，我们预测，如果当前的变暖趋势继续下去，这种珊瑚可能在2070年完全停止生长。
Sea surface temperature (SST) across much of the tropics has increased by 0.4 degrees to 1 degrees C since the mid-1970s. A parallel increase in the frequency and extent of coral bleaching and mortality has fueled concern that climate change poses a major threat to the survival of coral reef ecosystems worldwide. Here we show that steadily rising SSTs, not ocean acidification, are already driving dramatic changes in the growth of an important reef-building coral in the central Red Sea. Three-dimensional computed tomography analyses of the massive coral Diploastrea heliopora reveal that skeletal growth of apparently healthy colonies has declined by 30% since 1998. The same corals responded to a short-lived warm event in 1941/1942, but recovered within 3 years as the ocean cooled. Combining our data with climate model simulations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we predict that should the current warming trend continue, this coral could cease growing altogether by 2070.