Abstract
Bleaching is a stress reaction in corals, during which the symbiosis between corals and the algae (zooxanthellae) living in the coral cells breaks down. As a result, zooxanthellae are expelled, and the coral appears pale or even white (Fig. 6.1; Baker et al. 2008). The link between environmental variables and coral bleaching has been well-established in a variety of studies and synthesized in several places (Phinney et al. 2006; Baker et al. 2008; van Oppen and Lough 2009). Large-scale and region-wide bleaching events, such as occur in the Gulf, have been clearly linked to unusually high temperatures and the accumulation of heat stress in corals. Other drivers, such as UV and water acidity can have compounding effects (Baker et al. 2008) and bleaching can also be caused by these factors alone, or other local drivers such as unusually cold temperatures (Saxby et al. 2003; Lajeunesse et al. 2007). However, it is heat stress that has been demonstrated as the most reliable predictor and defined time-integrated bleaching thresholds exist for various regions of the Indo-Pacific and the Caribbean (Berkelmans 2002a, b; Manzello et al. 2007; Berkelmans 2009).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Al-Rashidi TB, El-Gamily HI, Amos CL, Rakha KA (2009) Sea surface temperature trends in Kuwait Bay, Arabian Gulf. Nat Hazard 50:73–82
Baker AC, Starger CJ, McClanahan TR, Glynn PW (2004) Corals’ adaptive response to climate change. Nature 430:741
Baker AC, Glynn PW, Riegl B (2008) Climate change and coral reef bleaching: an ecological assessment of long-term impacts, recovery trends and future outlook. Estuarine Coastal Shelf Sci 80:435–471
Berkelmans R (2002a) Time-integrated thermal bleaching thresholds of reefs and their variation on the Great Barrier Reef. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 229:73–82
Berkelmans R (2002b) Reply comment: time-integrated thermal bleaching thresholds of reefs and their variation on the Great Barrier Reef. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 237:309–310
Berkelmans R (2009) Bleaching and mortality thresholds: how much is too much? In: van Oppen MJH, Lough JM (eds) Coral bleaching, Ecological studies 205. Springer, New York, pp 103–119
Birkeland C, Craig P, Fenner D, Smith L, Kiene WE, Riegl B (2009) Geologic setting and ecological functioning of coral reefs in American Samoa. In: Riegl B, Dodge RE (eds) Coral reefs of the USA. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 741–765
Burt J, Bartholomew A, Usseglio P (2008) Recovery of corals a decade after a bleaching event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mar Biol 154:27–36
Dunne RP (2002) Comment: comment on Berkelmans (2002) ‘Time-integrated thermal bleaching thresholds of reefs and their variation on the Great Barrier Reef’. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 237:307–308
George JD, John DM (1999) High sea temperatures along the coast of Abu Dhabi (UAE), Arabian Gulf – their impact upon corals and macroalgae. Reef Encount 25:21–23
George JD, John DM (2000) The effects of the recent prolonged high seawater temperatures on the coral reefs of Abu Dhabi (UAE). Proc Int Symp Extent Coral Bleaching: 28–29
Lajeunesse TC, Reyes-Bonilla H, Warner ME (2007) Spring “bleaching” among Pocillopora in the Sea of Cortez, eastern Pacific. Coral Reefs 26:265–270
Manzello DP, Berkelmans R, Hendee JC (2007) Coral bleaching indices and thresholds for the Florida reef tract, Bahamas, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Mar Pollut Bull 54:1923–1931
Maynard JA, Anthony KRN, Marshall PA, Masiri I (2008a) Major bleaching events can lead to increased thermal tolerance in corals. Mar Biol 155:173–182
Maynard JA, Turner PJ, Anthony KRN, Baird AH, Berkelmans R, Eakin CM, Johnson J, Marshall PA, Packer GR, Rea A, Willis BL (2008b) ReefTemp: an interactive monitoring system for coral bleaching using high-resolution SST and improved stress predictors. Geophys Res Lett 35:L05603. doi:10.1029/2007GL032175
Nasrallah HA, Nieplova E, Ramadan E (2004) Warm season extreme temperature events in Kuwait. J Arid Environ 56:357–371
Phinney JT, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Kleypas J, Skirving W, Strong A (2006) Coral reefs and climate change. Science and management, Coastal and estuarine studies 61. AGU, Washington D.C, 241pp
Podesta GP, Glynn PW (1997) Sea surface temperature variability in Panama and Galapagos: extreme temperatures causing coral bleaching. J Geophys Res 102:15749–15759
Podesta GP, Glynn PW (2001) The 1997–98 El Nino event in Panama and Galapagos: an update on thermal stress indices relative to coral bleaching. Bull Mar Sci 69:43–59
Purkis SJ, Riegl B (2005) Spatial and temporal dynamics of Arabian Gulf coral assemblages quantified from remote-sensing and in situ monitoring data (Jebel Ali, Dubai, U.A.E.). Mar Ecol Prog Ser 287:99–113
Rayner NA, Parker DE, Horton EB, Folland CK, Alexander LV, Rowell DP, Kent EC, Kaplan A (2003) Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century. J Geophys Res 108(D14):4407. doi:10.1029/2002JD002670
Rayner NA, Brohan P, Parker DE, Folland CK, Kennedy JJ, Vanicek M, Ansell T, Tett SFB (2006) Improved analyses of changes and uncertainties in marine temperature measured in situ since the mid-Nineteenth century: the HadSST2 dataset. J Climate 19:446–469
Riegl B (1999) Coral communities in a non-reef setting in the southern Arabian Gulf (Dubai, UAE): fauna and community structure in response to recurrent mass mortality. Coral Reefs 18(1):63–73
Riegl B (2001) Inhibition of reef framework by frequent disturbance: examples from the Arabian Gulf, South Africa, and the Cayman Islands. Paleogeogr Paleoclimatol, Paleoecol 175:79–101
Riegl B (2002) Effects of the 1996 and 1998 SST anomalies on corals, coral diseases and fish in the Arabian Gulf (Dubai, UAE). Mar Biol 140:29–40
Riegl B (2003) Global climate change and coral reefs: different effects in two high latitude areas (Arabian Gulf, South Africa). Coral Reefs 22(3):433–446
Riegl B, Purkis S (2009) Model of coral population response to accelerated bleaching and mass mortality in a changing climate. Ecol Modell 220:192–208
Saxby T, Dennison WC, Hoegh-Guldberg O (2003) Photosynthetic responses of the coral Montipora digitata to cold temperature stress. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 248:85–97
Sheppard CRC (2003) Predicted recurrences of mass coral mortality in the Indian Ocean. Nature 425:294–297
Sheppard CRC, Loughland R (2002) Coral mortality in response to increasing temperature in the southern Arabian Gulf. Aquat Ecosyst Health Manag 5:395–402
Van Oppen MJH, Lough JM (2009) Coral bleaching. Patterns, processes, causes and consequences. Springer, Berlin, 178pp
Acknowledgements
Early phases of the monitoring project were funded by the WWF/EWF/Dolphin project and then sponsored by Abu Dhabi EAD, Qatar Gas, Qatar Ministry of Environment and NCRI at NSU. We thank R. Al-Mubarak, F. Launay, M. Chandler for support during that project.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Riegl, B.M. et al. (2012). Coral Bleaching and Mortality Thresholds in the SE Gulf: Highest in the World. In: Riegl, B., Purkis, S. (eds) Coral Reefs of the Gulf. Coral Reefs of the World, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3008-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3008-3_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-3007-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-3008-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)