Research suggests that higher-latitude reefs may have more time to adapt to rising ocean temperatures than their tropical counterparts.
Researchers have long questioned what impact climate change has on the rate at which corals are growing and building reef habitats in the Florida Keys. A new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill explored this topic, finding both good and bad news. The rate of coral skeletal growth in the Florida Keys has remained relatively stable over time, but the skeletal density of the region’s corals is declining, possibly due to ocean acidification.
The study was led by marine sciences Ph.D. candidate JP Rippe and colleagues in the College of Arts & Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, and findings were published in the journal Global Change Biology on Sept. 11. “As resource managers and scientists work to slow the deterioration of coral reefs across the globe, this research adds new insight into our understanding of how corals have historically been able to cope with climate change and may help to more accurately predict the extent that corals can adapt to their rapidly changing environment,” Rippe said.
Researchers extracted skeletal cores from 67 colonies of two reef-building coral species across 200 kilometers of the Florida Keys Reef Tract and measured how three key growth parameters — skeletal extension, calcification and density — have changed over the past century. Extension and calcification rates have largely been maintained at 0.36 cm yr-1 and 0.50 g cm-2 yr-1, respectively, for the massive starlet coral (Siderastrea siderea) and 0.47 cm yr-1 and 0.55 g cm-2 yr-1, respectively, for the symmetrical brain coral (Pseudodiploria strigosa). Skeletal density has declined at a rate of 5 mg cm-3 per decade over the past century.
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Image via JP Rippe, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
