Differential bleaching susceptibility among coral taxa and colony sizes, relative to bleaching severity across Australia's Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea Marine Parks

Burn, D., Hoey, A.S., Matthews, S., Harrison, H.B., and Pratchett, M.S. (2023) Differential bleaching susceptibility among coral taxa and colony sizes, relative to bleaching severity across Australia's Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea Marine Parks. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 191. 114907.

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Abstract

Climate-induced coral bleaching represents the foremost threat to coral assemblages globally, however bleaching susceptibility varies among and within coral taxa. We compared bleaching susceptibility among 10 coral morpho-taxa and two colony size classes relative to reef-scale bleaching severity at 33 reefs across the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea Marine Parks in February–March 2020. Colony size and bleaching severity caused the hierarchy of bleaching susceptibility among taxa to change considerably. Notably, massive Porites shifted from being among the least likely taxa to exhibit bleaching, to among the most susceptible as overall bleaching severity increased. Juvenile corals (≤5 cm diameter) were generally more resistant to bleaching, except for Montipora and Pocillopora colonies, which were more likely to bleach than adults (>5 cm). These findings suggest that colony size and reef-scale bleaching severity are important determinants of bleaching susceptibility among taxa and provide insights into possible shifts in the structure of coral assemblages caused by bleaching events.

Item ID: 78931
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1879-3363
Keywords: Bleaching severity, Colony size, Coral bleaching, Coral Sea, Taxonomic susceptibility
Copyright Information: © 2023 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Funders: ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Date Deposited: 31 Oct 2023 22:57
FoR Codes: 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 50%
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4101 Climate change impacts and adaptation > 410102 Ecological impacts of climate change and ecological adaptation @ 50%
SEO Codes: 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180501 Assessment and management of benthic marine ecosystems @ 100%
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