Severe and widespread coral reef damage during the 2014-2017 Global Coral Bleaching Event
Abstract
Abstract Ocean warming is increasing the frequency, extent, and severity of tropical-coral bleaching and mortality. During 2014–2017, marine heatwaves caused the Third Global Coral Bleaching Event. We analyze data from 15,066 reef surveys globally during 2014–2017. Across all surveyed reefs, 80% and 35% experienced moderate or greater (affecting >10% of corals) bleaching and mortality, respectively. We assess the global extent of coral bleaching and mortality by applying bleaching response curves calibrated from surveyed reefs to predict bleaching globally, based on comprehensive remote-sensing of heat stress. These models predict that 51% and 15% of the world’s coral reefs suffered moderate or greater bleaching and mortality, respectively, during one or multiple years, surpassing damage from any prior global coral bleaching event. Our findings demonstrate that the impacts of ocean warming on coral reefs are accelerating, with the near certainty that ongoing warming will cause large-scale, possibly irreversible, degradation of these essential ecosystems. With heat stress levels during this event surpassing those observed previously, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration developed more extreme Bleaching Alert levels that are now being used during the ongoing Fourth Global Coral Bleaching Event.
Article Details
Authors (179)
C. Mark Eakin
Scott F. Heron
Sean R. Connolly
College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University
Denise A. Devotta
Gang Liu
Erick F. Geiger
Jacqueline L. De La Cour
Andrea M. Gomez
William J. Skirving
Andrew H. Baird
Neal E. Cantin
Courtney S. Couch
Simon D. Donner
James Gilmour
Manuel Gonzalez-Rivero
Mishal Gudka
Hugo B. Harrison
Gregor Hodgson
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
Andrew S. Hoey
College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University
Mia O. Hoogenboom
Terry P. Hughes
Meaghan E. Johnson
James T. Kerry
Tadashi Kimura
Jennifer Mihaly
Aarón Israel Muñiz-Castillo
David O. Obura
Morgan S. Pratchett
Andrea Rivera-Sosa
Claire L. Ross
Jennifer Stein
Angus Thompson
Gergely Torda
T. Shay Viehman
Cory S. Walter
Shaun Wilson
Benjamin L. Marsh
Blake L. Spady
Noel Dyer
Thomas C. Adam
Pedro Alcolado
Mahsa Alidoostsalimi
Parisa Alidoostsalimi
Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip
Mariana Alvarez-Noriega
Jesús Ernesto Arias-González
Keisha D. Bahr
Peter Barnes
José Enrique Barraza Sandoval
Julia K. Baum
Andrew G. Bauman
Maria Beger
School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds
Kathryn Berry
Pia Bessell-Browne
Lionel Bigot
Victor Bonito
Ole B. Brodnicke
David Burdick
Deron E. Burkepile
April J. Burt
John A. Burt
Ian R. Butler
Jamie M. Caldwell
Yannick Chancerelle
Chaolun Allen Chen
Kah-Leng Cherh
Michael J. Childress
Darren J. Coker
Bryan Costa
Georgia Coward
M. James C. Crabbe
Thomas Dallison
Steven Dalton
Thomas M. DeCarlo
Crawford Drury
Ian Drysdale
Clinton B. Edwards
Linda Eggertsen
Eylem Elma
Rosmin S. Ennis
Richard D. Evans
Gal Eyal
Douglas Fenner
Baruch Figueroa-Zavala
Jay Fisch
Michael D. Fox
Elena Gadoutsis
Antoine Gilbert
Andrew R. Halford
Tom Heintz
James Hewlett
Jean-Paul A. Hobbs
Whitney C. Hoot
Peter Houk
Lyza Johnston
Michelle A. Johnston
Hajime Kayanne
Emma V. Kennedy
Ruy Kenji Papa de Kikuchi
Ulrike Kloiber
Haruko Koike
K. Lindsey Kramer
Chao-Yang Kuo
Judith Lang
Alice Lawrence
Abigail Leadbeater
Zelinda M. A. N. Leão
Jen Nie Lee
Cynthia Lewis
Diego Lirman
Guilherme Ortigara Longo
Chancey MacDonald
Jennie Mallela
Sangeeta Mangubhai
Isabel Marques da Silva
Christophe Mason-Parker
Vanessa McDonough
Melanie McField
Thayná Mello
Celine Miternique-Agathe
Mouchtadi Madi
Stephan Moldzio
Alison A. Monroe
Monica Montefalcone
Kevin S. Moses
Pargol G. Mostafavi
Rodrigo Leão de Moura
Chathurika S. Munasinghe
Jelvas Mwaura
Takashi Nakamura
RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
Jean-Benoit Nicet
Marissa F. Nuttall
Marilia D. M. Oliveira
Hazel A. Oxenford
John M. Pandolfi
Vardhan Patankar
Denise Perez
Nishan Perera
Derta Prabuning
William Precht
K. Diraviya Raj
James D. Reimer
Laura E. Richardson
Randi Rotjan
Nicole Ryan
Rod Salm
Stuart A. Sandin
Stephanie Schopmeyer
George Shedrawi
Mohammad Reza Shokri
Jennifer E. Smith
Kylie Smith
Struan R. Smith
Tyler B. Smith
Brigitte Sommer
Melina Soto
Richard Suckoo
Helen Sykes
Kelley Anderson Tagarino
Marianne Teoh
Minh Quang Thai
Tai Chong Toh
Alex Tredinnick
Alex Tso
Harriet Tyley
Ali M. Ussi
Bernardo Vargas-Angel
Christian Vaterlaus
Mark J. A. Vermeij
Si Tuan Vo
Christian R. Voolstra
Hin Boo Wee
Bradley A. Weiler
Dana E. Williams
Saleh A. S. Yahya
Thamasak Yeemin
Maren Ziegler
Derek P. Manzello