(Press-News.org) While research shows that nearly all coral reef locations in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico will experience bleaching by mid-century, a new study showing in detail when and where bleaching will occur shows great variety in the timing and location of these harmful effects.
The new research published today in Global Change Biology by NOAA scientists and colleagues provides the first fine-scale projections of coral bleaching, an important planning tool for managers.
"Our new local-scale projections will help resource managers better understand and plan for the effects of coral bleaching," said lead author Ruben van Hooidonk, a coral and climate researcher with the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School and NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.
"At some locations, referred to in our study as 'relative refugia,' lower rates of temperature increase and fewer extreme events mean reefs have more time to adapt to climate change," he said. "Managers may decide to use this information to protect these locations as refuges or protected areas. Or they may take other actions to reduce stress caused by human activities."
Coral bleaching, which is primarily caused by warming ocean temperatures, is a major threat to our ocean's health. When water is too warm corals expel the algae living in their tissue, causing the coral to lose its vibrant colors and turn completely white. Bleached corals are under more stress and are more likely to die. Extensive coral bleaching events have increased in frequency and severity over the past two decades due to climate change.
The loss of coral reefs can have economic, social and ecological effects. Coral reefs provide rich habitat for valuable fisheries that people depend on for food. They serve as protective buffers to coastlines by absorbing wave energy from storms, and they boost local economies by attracting tourists who fish, dive and explore these underwater treasures.
The new bleaching projections build upon a previous study that used global climate models from the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to produce projections at a very coarse resolution of about 68 miles or 110 kilometers. By using a regional ocean model and an approach called statistical downscaling, scientists calculated the onset of annual severe bleaching at a much higher resolution - 6 miles or 10 kilometers. The resulting local-scale projections of bleaching conditions will help managers include climate change as a consideration in planning and conservation decisions.
There are regions within many countries where some reefs are projected to experience annual bleaching conditions 15 or more years later than neighboring regions. This applies to reefs in Florida, the Bahamas, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, and Mexico. Reefs projected to experience bleaching conditions later can be conservation priorities.
Scientists also compared the two approaches they used to produce the high-resolution projections and found that both methods produced similar results. This gives the team confidence that the more cost-effective and less labor-intensive statistical downscaling approach could be applied for all of the world's coral reefs, which the team plans to undertake over the coming year.
Bob Glazer of Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said he welcomed the new research. "Coral bleaching poses a grave threat to coral reefs and these high-resolution projections provide vitally needed spatial information about the degree of threat and will help us make better management decisions."
INFORMATION:
NOAA's Reef Manager's Guide, which provides information on the causes and consequences of coral bleaching, outlines some of the management strategies and tools that can help reef managers address the coral bleaching threat. Find out more at http://www.coris.noaa.gov/activities/reef_managers_guide/
This study was funded by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program and supported by NOAA AOML. The article has been published Open Access ensuring everyone interested can review the local-scale projections of bleaching conditions.
The paper, "Downscaled projections of Caribbean coral bleaching that
can inform conservation planning," can be read online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12901/abstract
A new genomic analysis of tissue from patients with prostate cancer has added more evidence that cells within metastases from such tumors can migrate to other body parts and form new sites of spread on their own.
Results of the analysis undermine anew long-held beliefs that cells with metastatic potential originate solely from the original or primary site of a cancer, according to the scientists who performed the study.
"The idea that metastatic tumors can seed and establish other metastatic tumors in patients is different from traditional theories that the primary ...
As part of an effort to understand how an experimental drug for atherosclerosis causes the build-up of fat in the liver, scientists have developed a computer model that can predict how the rate at which liver stores fat in response to various situations. Being able to model liver fat storage gives researchers a way to predict the side effects of drugs and environmental factors at much earlier stages in the research and drug development process, possibly reducing the number of experiments involving animal models. Additionally, this computer simulation helps describe all ...
While testosterone replacement therapies may be controversial in males, new research in The FASEB Journal may extend this controversy to females too. That's because research involving mice, appearing in the April 2015 issue, suggests that there is an association between low levels of androgens (which includes testosterone), and atherosclerosis and obesity in females.
"We hope that our study will contribute to intensified research efforts on the definition of androgen deficiency in women (e.g. which levels of androgens in the blood should be considered too low?), the ...
Jacksonville, Fla. (April 1, 2015) - Training pediatric primary care providers to screen and assess depression and suicide risk in adolescent patients improved providers' confidence and knowledge of these conditions and increased frequency of screenings for this critical patient population. The study, published in the May/June issue of Academic Pediatrics, demonstrates an effective tool for improving recognition of adolescent depression.
"Adolescent depression is woefully underrecognized and undertreated," said Elise Fallucco, MD, a lead author of the study and child ...
The name sounds like something Marvin the Martian might have built, but the "nanomechanical plasmonic phase modulator" is not a doomsday device. Developed by a team of government and university researchers, including physicists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the innovation harnesses tiny electron waves called plasmons. It's a step towards enabling computers to process information hundreds of times faster than today's machines.
Computers currently shuttle information around using electricity traveling down nanoscale metal wires. Although ...
Annapolis, Md -- New research published today in Nature Communications provides insight into how large-scale deforestation could impact global food production by triggering changes in local climate. In the study, researchers from the United States and China zero in on albedo (the amount of the sun's radiation reflected from Earth's surface) and evapotranspiration (the transport of water into the atmosphere from soil, vegetation, and other surfaces) as the primary drivers of changes in local temperature.
The research is the first global analysis of the effects of forest ...
If you want the benefits of medical marijuana without the "unwanted side effects" of cannabis, new research should leave you on a high note. According to a research report appearing in the April 2015 issue of The FASEB Journal, fenofibrate, also known by the brand name Tricor®, may benefit a wide range of health issues, such as pain, appetite stimulation, nausea, as well as immune and various psychiatric and neurological conditions. This suggests that fenofibrate may be the starting point for a new class of cannabis-like drugs to treat these types of conditions.
"By ...
The Pacific Northwest is dotted by small, low-lying, coastal cities where populations tend to cluster. These communities can be isolated and are susceptible to devastation from major storms that bring substantial wind, waves and storm surge. With climate change, it is anticipated that storms will only become more frequent and intense, signifying a need to understand how the areas will be affected.
David Hill, a researcher at Oregon State University, is focused on the hydrology and hydrodynamics in coastal areas, which represent the boundary between terrestrial and marine ...
PHILADELPHIA-- Penn Medicine researchers are continuing their work in trying to understand the mechanisms through which anesthetics work to elicit the response that puts millions of Americans to sleep for surgeries each day. Their most recent study looked at ketamine, an anesthetic discovered in the 1960s and more recently prescribed as an anti-depressant at low doses. Through collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania's department of Chemistry and scientists at the Duke University Medical Center, researchers at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine have identified ...
ALEXANDRIA, VA -- An updated clinical practice guideline from the American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery Foundation published today in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery identifies quality improvement opportunities and explicit actionable recommendations for clinicians managing adult sinusitis, including a greater focus on patient education and patient preference.
"More than ever before, there is a prominent role for shared decision-making between patients and clinicians when managing adult sinusitis--especially in deciding whether to use antibiotics ...
