Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Thermal bleaching in the northern South China Sea: impact of abnormal environment and climate on high-latitude coral reefs

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Extensive coral bleaching events can result in catastrophic degradation of coral reefs and reorganization of coral communities. In the present study, we analyzed the spatial differences in coral bleaching and possible reasons of large-scale coral bleaching, based on the results of a survey carried out in the northern South China Sea in 2020. In addition, we have continuously monitored the sea surface temperature (SST) of the northernmost Weizhou Island for more than six years. The living coral cover at Weizhou Island (W), Xuwen Nature Reserve (X), and Haihua Island (H) was relatively high at 24.6% ± 4.8%, 12.1% ± 3.8%, and 8.1% ± 2.6%, respectively, whereas their bleaching rates were 9.7% ± 2.6%, 9.7% ± 3.3%, and 6.9% ± 2.1%, respectively. Among them, the living coral cover of W was significantly different from those of X and H, whereas the bleaching rate was not significantly different among the three areas. In all three areas, the massive and encrusting corals predominate and exhibit relatively high bleaching rates, with Porites lutea and Bernardpora stutchburyi being the dominant species. In addition, the temperature monitoring results of Weizhou Island for six consecutive years showed that the critical SST of coral bleaching was 31.5 ℃. The monitoring results also showed that the average SST of Weizhou Island was 32.1 ℃, exceeding 32 ℃ in July 2020 for up to 533 h. The longest continuous time when the SST exceeded 32 ℃ was 97 h. These findings indicated that the coral bleaching event that occurred in the Beibu Gulf during 2020 was a large-scale and high-temperature transient event that presented a relatively homogeneous threat to the coral communities. We inferred that this sudden heat stress event was caused by the enclosed tidal current in the Beibu Gulf, which prevented the southern upwelling from reaching the north, as well as by the inability of the SST to decrease without rainfall caused by typhoon cyclones. Our findings suggested that abnormal heat waves can result in coral bleaching at high latitudes and even coral reef degradation. Furthermore, our study provides a new perspective for investigating the self-recovery and reorganization of coral communities following accumulated coral bleaching.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Not applicable.

References

  • Baird AH, Marshall PA (2002) Mortality, growth and reproduction in scleractinian corals following bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. Mar Ecol Prog 237:133–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown BE (1997) Coral bleaching: causes and consequences. Coral reefs 16:S129–S138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen B, Dai M (2020) Advances in study of Beibu Gulf circulation. Guangxi Sci 26:595–603

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen Y, Zhai F, Li P, Gu Y, Wu K (2022) Extreme 2020 summer SSTs in the northern South China Sea: implications for the Beibu Gulf coral bleaching. J Clim 35:4177–4190

  • DeCarlo TM, Harrison HB (2019) An enigmatic decoupling between heat stress and coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. Peer J 7:e7473

  • Donner SD, Rickbeil GJM, Heron SF (2017) A new, high-resolution global mass coral bleaching database. PLoS One 12(4):e0175490

  • Douglas AE (2003) Coral bleaching-how and why? Mar Pollut Bull 46:385–392

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fang X (2015) Numerical simulation of seasonally circulation and water exchange in the Beibu Gulf. Ocean University of China 1–58

  • Fisher R, Bessell-Browne P, Jones R (2019) Synergistic and antagonistic impacts of suspended sediments and thermal stress on corals. Nat Commun 10:2346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frieler K, Meinshausen M, Golly A, Mengel M, Lebek K, Donner SD, Hoegh-Guldberg O (2012) Limiting global warming to 2 °C is unlikely to save most coral reefs. Nat Clim Chang 3:165–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frolicher TL, Fischer EM, Gruber N (2018) Marine heatwaves under global warming. Nature 560:360–364

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gao JS, Chen B, Shi MC (2015) Summer circulation structure and formation mechanism in the Beibu Gulf. Sci China Earth Sci 58:286–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao J, Wu G, Ya H (2017) Review of the circulation in the Beibu Gulf, South China Sea. Cont Shelf Res 138:106–119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gischler E (2010) Indo-Pacific and Atlantic spurs and grooves revisited: the possible effects of different Holocene sea-level history, exposure, and reef accretion rate in the shallow fore reef. Facies 56:173–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamylton SM, Mallela J (2019) Reef development on a remote coral atoll before and after coral bleaching: a geospatial assessment. Mar Geol 418:106041

  • Heron SF, Maynard JA, Hooidonk RV, Eakin CM (2016) Warming trends and bleaching stress of the world’s coral reefs 1985–2012. Sci Rep 6:38402

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hill J, Wilkinson C (2004) Methods for ecological monitoring of coral reefs. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, p 1–117

  • Hoegh-Guldberg O (1999) Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world’s coral reefs. Mar Freshw Res 50:839–866

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes TP, Kerry JT, Baird AH, Connolly SR, Dietzel A, Eakin CM, Heron SF, Hoey AS, Hoogenboom MO, Liu G (2018) Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages. Nature 556:492–496

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes TP, Anderson KD, Connolly SR, Heron SF, Kerry JT, Lough JM, Baird AH, Baum JK, Berumen ML, Bridge TC, Claar DC, Eakin CM, Gilmour JP, Graham NAJ, Harrison H, Hobbs JPA, Hoey AS, Hoogenboom M, Lowe RJ, McCulloch MT, Pandolfi JM, Pratchett M, Schoepf V, Torda G, Wilson SK (2018) Spatial and temporal patterns of mass bleaching of corals in the Anthropocene. Science 359:80–83

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes TP, Kerry JT, Baird AH, Connolly SR, Chase TJ, Dietzel A, Hill T, Hoey AS, Hoogenboom MO, Jacobson M (2019) Global warming impairs stock-recruitment dynamics of corals. Nature 568:1–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2014) Core Writing Tteam. In: Pachauri RK, Meyer LA (Eds.), Report, IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland 151

  • Knowlton N (2001) The future of coral reefs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98(10):5419–5425

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Levas S, Schoepf V, Warner ME, Aschaffenburg MD, Baumann JH, Grottoli A (2018) Long-term recovery of Caribbean corals from bleaching. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 506:124–134

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li S, Yu K, Chen T, Shi Q (2011) Assessment of coral bleaching using symbiotic zooxanthellae density and satellite remote sensing data in the Nansha Islands, South China Sea. Chin Sci Bull 56:1031–1037

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J (2006) Ecological function and protecting development in coral reef of Xuwen County. J Zhanjiang Norm Coll 27:60–61

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu F, Tang S (2018) Influence of the interaction between typhoons and oceanic mesoscale eddies on phytoplankton blooms. J Geophys Res: Oceans 123:2785–2794

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma C, Zhao J, Ai B, Sun S, Zhang G, Huang W, Wang G (2021) Assessing responses of phytoplankton to consecutive typhoons by combining Argo, remote sensing and numerical simulation data. Sci Total Environ 790:148086

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meehan WJ, Ostrander GK (1997) Coral bleaching: a potential biomarker of environmental stress. J Toxicol Environ Health 50:529–552

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Menkes CE, Lengaigne M, Lévy M, Ethé C, Bopp L, Aumont O, Vincent E, Vialard J, Jullien S (2016) Global impact of tropical cyclones on primary production. Global Biogeochem Cycles 30:767–786

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison TH, Hughes TP, Adger WN, Brown K, Lemos MC (2019) Save reefs to rescue all ecosystems. Nature 573:333–336

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ohara T, Hoeksema BW, Wee HB, Reimer JD (2021) Downslope migration of free-living corals (Scleractinia: Fungiidae) in typhoon-exposed reef habitats at Okinawa. Japan-Sci Direct Mar Environ Res 170:105445

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Okubo N, Onuma A (2015) An economic and ecological consideration of commercial coral transplantation to restore the marine ecosystem in Okinawa, Japan. Ecosyst Serv 11:39–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Padilla-Gamiño JL, Bidigare RR, Barshis DJ, Alamaru A, Hédouin L, Hernández-Pech X, Kandel F, Soon SL, Roth MS, Rodrigues LJ, Grottoli AG, Portocarrero C, Wagenhauser SA, Buttler F, Gates RD (2013) Are all eggs created equal? A case study from the Hawaiian reef-building coral Montipora capitata. Coral Reefs 32:137–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan J, Huang L, Devlin AT, Lin H (2018) Quantification of typhoon-induced phytoplankton blooms using satellite multi-sensor data. Remote Sens 10:318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plaisance L, Caley MJ, Brainard RE, Knowlton N (2011) The diversity of coral reefs: what are we missing? PloS one 6(10):e25026

  • Ramesh CH, Koushik S, Shunmugaraj T, Murthy MVR (2020) Seasonal studies on in situ coral transplantation in the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, Southeast coast of Tamil Nadu, India - ScienceDirect. Ecol Eng 152:105884

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shi M (2014) Study comments on circulation in Beibu Gulf. Guangxi Sci 21:313–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Skirving WJ, Heron SF, Marsh BL, Liu G, Cour JL (2019) The relentless march of mass coral bleaching: a global perspective of changing heat stress. Coral Reefs 38:547–557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki A, Kawahata H (2003) Carbon budget of coral reef systems: an overview of observations in fringing reefs, barrier reefs and atolls in the Indo-Pacific regions. Tellus Ser B Chem Phys Meteorol 55(2):428–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang C, Li M, Zheng Z, Zhou X, Shi X (2010) An analysis on the trend of sea surface temperature indices for coral cold bleaching in Weizhou Island Ocean Observation Station during 1960–2009. Trop Geogr 30:577–586

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tebbett SB, Morais J, Bellwood DR (2021) Spatial patchiness in change, recruitment, and recovery on coral reefs at Lizard Island following consecutive bleaching events. Mar Environ Res 173:105537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang L, Zhao H (2006) Coral reef ecosystem service and its value evaluation. Chin J Ecol 25:1384–1389

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang X, Li Y, Lin M, Su Z, Liu X, Yu K (2022) Variations in the coral community at the high-latitude Bailong Peninsula, northern South China Sea. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21881-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie S-P, Hu K, Hafner J, Tokinaga H, Du Y, Huang G, Sampe T (2009) Indian Ocean capacitor effect on Indo-western Pacific climate during the summer following El Niño. J Clim 22:730–747

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang H, Yu K, Zhao M, Shi Q, Tao S, Yan H, Chen T, Liu G (2015) Impact on the coral reefs at Yongle Atoll, Xisha Islands, South China Sea from a strong typhoon direct sweep: Wutip, September 2013. J Asian Earth Sci 114:457–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu X, Yu K, Chen B, Liao Z, Liang J, Yao Q, Qin Z, Wang H, Yu J (2021) Different responses of scleractinian coral Acropora pruinosa from Weizhou Island during extreme high temperature events. Coral Reefs 40:1697–1711

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu K, Zhao J (2009) Coral reefs. In: Wang PX, Li QY (eds) The South China Sea-Paleoceanography and sedimentology. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 186–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu W, Wang W, Yu K, Wang Y, Chen X (2019) Rapid decline of a relatively high latitude coral assemblage at Weizhou Island, northern South China Sea. Biodivers Conserv 28:3925–3949

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang W, Zheng Z, Zhang T, Chen T (2020) Strengthened marine heatwaves over the Beibu Gulf coral reef regions from 1960 to 2017. Haiyang Xuebao 42:41–49

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao H, Wang L, Song C (2008) Existing and developing conditions of coral reef on the west Xuwen County. Trop Geogr 28:234–241

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao M, Yu K, Shi Q, Yang H, Riegl B, Zhang Q, Yan H, Chen T, Liu G, Lin Z (2016) The coral communities of Yongle atoll: status, threats and conservation significance for coral reefs in South China Sea. Mar Freshw Res 6(12):1888–1896

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuo X, Qin B, Teng J, Duan X, Yu K, Su F (2023) Optimized spatial and temporal pattern for coral bleaching heat stress alerts for China’s coral reefs. Mar Environ Res 191:106152

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Zheng Guo and Qinglong Liang for their help in the investigation and data acquisition. We would like to thank three anonymous reviewers, and the journal editor Dr. V.V.S.S. Sarma for their constructive comments, suggestions, and detailed revisions on our manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by the Project of Guangxi Key Lab of Mangrove Conservation and Utilization (No. GKLMC-20A02), the Opening Foundation of Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf Ministry of Education (Nanning Normal University) (No. NNNU-KLOP-X2204), the Young Science Foundation of Guangxi Province of China (No. 2017GXNSFBA198161), and the Guangxi Science and Technology Program Project (No. AD33035046).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangxi Key Lab of Mangrove Conservation and Utilization, Guangxi Mangrove Research Center of Guangxi Sciences Academy, Beihai, 536000, China

    Xin Wang, Mingqing Lin & Haolang Zhou

  2. Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf (Nanning Normal University), Ministry of Education, China, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Intelligent Simulation, Nanning Normal University, Nanning, 530001, China

    Yinqiang Li

  3. Haikou Marine Environmental Monitoring Center Station, State Oceanic Administration, Haikou, 570311, China

    Zhiwei Che

  4. Guangxi Institute of Meteorological Sciences, Nanning, 530022, China

    Weihua Mo & Yanli Chen

  5. Beihai Marine Environmental Monitoring Center Station, State Oceanic Administration, Beihai, 536000, China

    Shaohua Mo

  6. Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Wentao Niu

Authors
  1. Xin Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yinqiang Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mingqing Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhiwei Che
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Weihua Mo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yanli Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Shaohua Mo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Wentao Niu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Haolang Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

X.W. and Y.L. designed the research. X.W. and Y.L. performed the research. Y.L., M.L., Z.C., W.M., Y.C., S.M., W.N., and H.Z. analyzed the data and drew all the pictures. X.W. and Y.L. wrote the manuscript. All authors had read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yinqiang Li.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: V.V.S.S. Sarma

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This manuscript has not been submitted to a preprint server prior to submission to ESPR, in part or in entirety, and is not under consideration by another journal.

Supplementary information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 22 KB)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, X., Li, Y., Lin, M. et al. Thermal bleaching in the northern South China Sea: impact of abnormal environment and climate on high-latitude coral reefs. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 1576–1588 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31173-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31173-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation