Coral reefs are retreating from equatorial waters and establishing new reefs in more temperate regions, according to new research in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.
Coral reefs are retreating from equatorial waters and establishing new reefs in more temperate regions, according to new research in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. The researchers found that the number of young corals on tropical reefs has declined by 85 percent – and doubled on subtropical reefs – during the last four decades.
"Climate change seems to be redistributing coral reefs, the same way it is shifting many other marine species," said Nichole Price, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and lead author of the paper. "The clarity in this trend is stunning, but we don’t yet know whether the new reefs can support the incredible diversity of tropical systems."
As climate change warms the ocean, subtropical environments are becoming more favorable for corals than the equatorial waters where they traditionally thrived. This is allowing drifting coral larvae to settle and grow in new regions. These subtropical reefs could provide refuge for other species challenged by climate change and new opportunities to protect these fledgling ecosystems.
Read more at: Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
An experiment in Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge collects coral larvae, allowing researchers to enumerate the number of baby corals settling on a reef. Recent research shows that corals are establishing new reefs in temperate regions as they retreat from increasingly warmer waters at the equator. (Photo Credit: Nichole Price/Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences)
