Heat stress differentially impacts key calcification mechanisms in reef-building corals

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are increasingly threatened by climate change, mass bleaching events and ocean acidification (OA). Coral calcification, a process that is critical to build and maintain...     

The reef building coral Stylophora pistillata uses stored carbohydrates to maintain ATP levels under thermal stress

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are on the brink of collapse from global warming and associated coral bleaching. Coral bleaching is the loss of algal symbionts from the coral tissue. The reduction in...     

Bioerosion of reef-building crustose coralline algae by endolithic invertebrates in an upwelling-influenced reef

Coral Reefs - Coral reef growth is primarily determined by constructive and bioerosive processes acting on key reef-building organisms. Among them, corals are major contributors to the construction...     

Ecological consequences of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in the Turks and Caicos Islands

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are suffering global declines due to climate change, natural disasters, pollution, and diseases. Coral disease events have increased in frequency and severity in the past...     

Carbohydrate composition of mucus from scleractinian corals from the central Red Sea

Coral Reefs - Coral mucus is continuously released by most corals and acts as an important protective barrier and as a substrate for host-associated microbial communities due to its complex...     

Species traits as indicators of coral bleaching

Coral Reefs - Coral bleaching as a response to increased sea surface temperature is regularly surveyed, but our understanding of species-specific differences in response is limited. We compiled...     

Mixed Layer Depth Seasonality within the Coral Sea Based on Argo Data

The worldwide deployment of Argo floats has enabled much more detailed studies of global and regional seas over the last decade. Here, the seasonal variability of the mixed layer depth (MLD) within the Coral Sea was examined with CTD profiles from Argo floats. Multiple threshold values for both temperature and density have been employed to determine the most suitable threshold values for the Coral Sea. A threshold value of 0.04 kg/m³ for density and 0.2°C for temperature appear the most fitting for this region. Although MLD and isothermal layer depth (ILD) coincide quite well in most cases, the relatively common presence of temporary, non-seasonal barrier layers induces an ILD that is significantly deeper than the MLD. Consequently, an MLD estimation based on density is more appropriate. A distinct seasonality in the MLD is evident throughout the Coral Sea, but is generally more pronounced in higher southern latitudes (20–30°S). Salinity inversions are rare and mainly occur in the south-eastern Coral Sea, while barrier layers are more commonly associated with the north-eastern Coral Sea, a region characterised by high rainfall. The significance of regional currents is evident in the north-western Coral Sea, where temperature and ocean heat content is relatively low due to a northward moving boundary current. Shallow bathymetry, in turn, is linked to the absence of Argo data on the continental shelf and in the central Coral Sea.     

Priority coral conservation areas under global warming in the Amami Islands,Southern Japan

Coral Reefs - Coral reef ecosystems are highly sensitive to climate change. The Amami Islands in Southern Japan were selected as the study area. It is important to select areas that should be given...     

Investigating the heat shock protein response involved in coral bleaching across scleractinian species in the central Red Sea

Coral Reefs - Coral bleaching represents the most serious threat to contemporary coral reefs. In response, focus is being laid on understanding the cellular processes involved in the response of...     

eDNA detection of corallivorous seastar (Acanthaster cf. solaris) outbreaks on the Great Barrier Reef using digital droplet PCR

Coral Reefs - Coral loss through consumption by corallivorous crown-of-thorns seastars (CoTS, Acanthaster spp.) is a major contributor to the coral reef crisis in the Indo-Pacific region. The...     

The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI): Global priorities for the conservation and management of coral reefs and the need for partnerships

Coral Reefs -  The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) is an international partnership, established to reverse the global degradation of coral reefs. In this paper, the ICRI process is...     

Variation in susceptibility among three Caribbean coral species and their algal symbionts indicates the threatened staghorn coral,Acropora cervicornis,is particularly susceptible to elevated nutrients and heat stress

Coral Reefs - Coral cover is declining worldwide due to multiple interacting threats. We compared the effects of elevated nutrients and temperature on three Caribbean corals: Acropora cervicornis,...     

Simulating the effects of colony density and intercolonial distance on fertilisation success in broadcast spawning scleractinian corals

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are predicted to be vulnerable to the Allee effect due to the density dependence of broadcast spawning fertilisation success. Verifying such effects in corals, however, is...     

Seasonal calcification of the coral Acropora digitifera from a subtropical marginal Okinawa reef under ocean acidification

Coral Reefs - Coral calcification is affected by the decrease in aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) caused by ocean acidification (OA). However, OA effects are modulated by other environmental...     

Macroalgae removal on coral reefs: realised ecosystem functions transcend biogeographic locations

Coral Reefs - Coral reef ecosystems are at the forefront of biodiversity loss and climate change-mediated transformations. This is expected to have profound consequences for the functioning of...     

Developing best practices for the restoration of massive corals and the mitigation of predation impacts: influences of physical protection,colony size,and genotype on outplant mortality

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs have undergone drastic declines due to anthropogenic and natural disturbances. In response, restoration efforts were developed to recover lost ecosystem services....     

Sub-annual fluorescence measurements of coral skeleton: relationship between skeletal luminescence and terrestrial humic-like substances

Coral Reefs - Some massive coral core slices reveal luminescent bands under ultraviolet light, which have been attributed to terrestrial humic acids in the skeleton. Coral luminescence has...     

Acoustic and biological trends on coral reefs off Maui,Hawaii

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are characterized by high biodiversity, and evidence suggests that reef soundscapes reflect local species assemblages. To investigate how sounds produced on a given reef...     

Variance of coral anti-pathogen defense in response to transplantation between coral- and macroalgal-dominated reefs

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are undergoing precipitous decline due to coral bleaching and disease following warming events, with impacted reefs often shifting from coral to macroalgal dominance. We...     

Exposure to degraded coral habitat depresses oxygen uptake rate during exercise of a juvenile reef fish

Coral Reefs - Coral reef ecosystems are currently under unprecedented stress due to anthropogenic induced climate change. Such stress causes coral habitats to degrade, which has been found to...