[Coral-List] amazing recovery of corals in the Southern Line Islands after bleaching mortality

[Douglas Fenner]

There are also now papers documenting what happened during the last
bleaching events at Jarvis Island in the Line Is.  Jarvis is a tiny US
island that is quite close to the equator, and if you remember maps of sea
surface temperature during El Ninos, typically there is a narrow tongue of
hot water that extends westward from South America, right on the equator.
The first paper documents over 98% coral mortality on Jarvis from those El
Nino events.  The second documents succession during the first 3 years
after bleaching, with the abundance of new recruits increasing by the end
of three years.  But the formerly dominant Pocillopora and Montipora
abundances remain low so far.

In the Southern Line Islands featured in the video, those islands are well
south of Jarvis and so likely were not in that hot water tongue and had
much less heat stress, and had "only" about 50% mortality.  One would guess
that recovery from 98% mortality might take longer than from 50%
mortality.  But we also might worry that the long-term effects might be
greater, and it might even not regain its former coral cover, let alone
composition.  I wonder if Jarvis's 98% mortality might be the highest
mortality yet reported from a bleaching event?

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-019-01838-0

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-022-02246-7

Not open-access.  If you become a member of the International Coral Reef
society, you gain access to all issues of this journal, Coral Reefs, at a
bargain price.  If not, check for the corresponding author's email address.

Cheers, Doug


On Mon, Oct 31, 2022 at 2:15 PM Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Once devastated, these Pacific reefs have seen an amazing rebirth
>
>
> https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/once-devastated-these-pacific-reefs-have-seen-an-amazing-rebirth-feature
>
> Cheers, Doug
>
> --
> Douglas Fenner
> Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
> NOAA Fisheries Service
> Pacific Islands Regional Office
> Honolulu
> and:
> Coral Reef Consulting
> PO Box 997390
> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298  USA
>
> Switching to renewable energy could save trillions-up to $12 TRILLION by
> 2050.
> https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62892013
>
> 1 in 6 deaths worldwide can be attributed to pollution, new review shows
>
> https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/1-in-6-deaths-worldwide-can-be-attributed-to-pollution-new-review-shows/ar-AAXozQh
>
> UN: World on fast track to disaster, but we can avert it
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xBVD8r0aHQ
>
>