A new study by the Marine Laboratory at the University of Guam may help researchers predict coral bleaching months earlier than current tools, and, for the first time, may help predict invasion events of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish.
A new study by the Marine Laboratory at the University of Guam may help researchers predict coral bleaching months earlier than current tools, and, for the first time, may help predict invasion events of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish. The study was published on May 8 in Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed journal published by Nature Research.
Coral bleaching and the crown-of-thorns starfish represent the two biggest disturbances coral reefs face, while local stressors like pollution and overfishing represent the two biggest impediments to recovery following disturbances.
Unlike other prediction tools, this study used the interaction of two major oceanographic modulators — El Niño and Pacific Decadal Oscillation, or PDO — to predict how “warm blobs” of seawater and excess nutrients move around the tropical Western Pacific to cause these two destructive events. Existing tools typically provide bleaching warnings two to three weeks in advance; however, this new tool extends the warning period to between three and five months.
Important implications
Advanced warnings have important implications for coral reef management efforts in the Pacific region and potentially beyond.
Read more at University of Guam
Image: Piis Patch Reef on the Micronesian Island of Chuuk is shown in August 2016 before a coral bleaching event associated with El Niño, or the warming phase of sea temperatures. (Credit: University of Guam)
