Coral bleaching caused by an abnormal water temperature rise at Luhuitou fringing reef, Sanya Bay, China
Keywords:
high thermal stress, Qiongdong upwelling, coral community, Sanya, Hainan Island, mortality, juvenile coral, coral recovery, temperature anomalyAbstract
Luhuitou fringing reef, which has been seriously affected by human activities and terrestrial runoff, has degraded quickly in recent decades. However, direct impact by hyperthermal stress has probably been minimal because of the influence of the Qiongdong upwelling in summer. Seawater temperature anomalies in 2010 resulted in mean monthly seawater temperatures in summer to be 1–2°C higher than in the same period of the 3 preceding years. Moderate coral bleaching at Luhuitou fringing reef was observed in the summer of 2010 due to high thermal stress. Montipora was the most susceptible taxon, whereas Galaxea fascicularis and Pocillopora damicornis were among the least susceptible taxa. Mortality of Montipora was 21.7%, whereas for the remaining taxa it was less than 5%. No mortality was observed for tabular Acropora, G. fascicularis, P. damicornis, Favites and Leptoria. Most taxa showed relatively high bleaching in larger colonies compared with that in smaller ones. Juvenile coral colonies showed less bleaching (3%) than adult coral colonies (28%). Our study suggested that although most taxa in the survey area might recover from this moderate coral bleaching episode, coral reproduction in the year following bleaching may be adversely affected.
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