Author(s): Soares, Marcelo de Oliveira ; Teixeira, Carlos Eduardo Peres ; Ferreira, Sarah Maria Cavalcante ; Gurgel, Anne Larisse Alves Rebouças ; Paiva, Bárbara Pereira ; Menezes, Maria Ozilea Bezerra ; Davis, Marcus ; Tavares, Tallita Cruz Lopes
Date: 2022
Origin: Oasisbr
Subject(s): Coral reef; Climate change; Climatology; Recifes de corais; Mudança climática; Climologia
This study reports on the deepest records (~ 24 m depth) of coral bleaching in a naturally temperature-stable environment (> 26 °C with an intra-annual variability of ~ 2 °C), which was recorded during a mass bleaching event in the locally dominant, massive scleractinian coral Siderastrea stellata in equatorial waters of Brazil (SW Atlantic). An inter-annual analysis (2002– 2017) indicated that this bleaching event was related to anomalies in sea surface temperature (SST) that led to the warmest year (2010) in this century (1 to 1.7 °C above average). Such anomalies caused heat stress (28.5–29.5 °C) in this equatorial environment that resulted in a bleaching event. Our results suggest that the increase in SST, low turbidity, and weak winds may have acted together to affect these stress-tolerant corals in marginal reefs. The equatorial coastline of Brazil is characterized by low intra-annual and inter-annual variations in SST, which suggests that the S. stellata corals here may be acclimatized to these stable conditions and, consequently, have a lower bleaching threshold because of lower historical heat stress.
