Workshop on Coral Bleaching, Coral Reef Ecosystems, and Global Climate Change

珊瑚礁是地质上古老的生态系统， 为全球气候变化提供了极好的历史证据 和一些现存的最好的生态系统响应指标， 这样的变化。 然而，珊瑚礁被一些人认为是 全球气候变化的指标不仅仅是 历史感。 最近有很多猜测 在媒体上，珊瑚礁研究人员之间的讨论， 关于珊瑚“漂白”的话题， 解释为礁珊瑚对海平面上升压力反应 全球气候变化引起的地表温度（SST）。 这种解释遭到了相当多的怀疑 科学界的许多人，然而， 引起了媒体和国会的广泛关注。 珊瑚白化是一个可能的气候指标 变化 这次讲习班将满足评估 我们对珊瑚白化的了解， 为了确定未来十年的研究需求， 了解潜在的全球气候变化对 浅水热带海洋生态系统，如珊瑚礁。

Coral reefs are geologically ancient ecosystems that have provided excellent historical evidence of global climatic changes and some of the best indications extant of ecosystem response to such changes. Yet coral reefs are believed by some to be indicators of global climate change in more than just the historical sense. There has been considerable recent speculation in the press, discussion among reef researchers, and testimony on the topic of coral "bleaching," a phenomenon that some interpret as a stress reaction of reef corals to elevated sea surface temperature (SST's) caused by global climate change. This interpretation has been met with considerable skepticism from many in the scientific community, yet it has nonetheless captured considerable attention in the press and in Congress. Coral bleaching is a possible present indicator of climate change. This workshop will meet a critical need to assess the state of our knowledge about coral bleaching and, in the larger sense, to determine research needs for the next decade for understanding the effects of potential global climate change on shallow water tropical marine ecosystems such as coral reefs.