Topic
Galaxea
About: Galaxea is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 47 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2123 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: A detailed analysis of the bleaching response of 4160 coral colonies, representing 45 genera and 15 families, from two depths at four sites on reefs fringing inshore islands on the Great Barrier Reef suggests that much of the spatial variation inBleaching response was due to assemblage composition and thermal acclimation.
Abstract: Large-scale coral bleaching episodes are potentially major disturbances to coral reef systems, yet a definitive picture of variation in assemblage response and species susceptibilities is still being compiled. Here, we provide a detailed analysis of the bleaching response of 4160 coral colonies, representing 45 genera and 15 families, from two depths at four sites on reefs fringing inshore islands on the Great Barrier Reef. Six weeks after the onset of large-scale bleaching in 1998, between 11 and 83% of colonies along replicate transects were affected by bleaching, and mortality was 1 to 16%. There were significant differences in bleaching response between sites, depths and taxa. Cyphastrea, Turbinaria and Galaxea were relatively unaffected by bleaching, while most acroporids and pocilloporids were highly susceptible. The hydrocorals (Millepora spp.) were the most susceptible taxa, with 85% mortality. Spatial variation in assemblage response was linked to the taxonomic composition of reef sites and their bleaching history. We suggest, therefore, that much of the spatial variation in bleaching response was due to assemblage composition and thermal acclimation.
1,061 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that a colonies response to bleaching is phylogenetically constrained, emphasizing the importance of features of the host's physiology or morphology in determining the response to thermal stress.
272 citations
TL;DR: There was no single response of these common corals to warm water but data, collected during an extreme warm-water anomaly, indicate that the loss of color is most frequently a sign of morbidity, particularly for branching and encrusting taxa.
Abstract: Reef corals are likely to have many subtle but four gross responses to anomalous warm water. These are (1) not bleach and live (mortality 20%), (3) bleach and live, and (4) bleach and die. The frequency of these four possible gross responses was determined for 18 common coral taxa over an exceptionally warm 1998 El Nino where intense bleaching was observed, and mortality determined from line transects averaged 41.2±34.7 (±SD). Field studies included (1) recording the loss of color (bleaching) and observing recently dead individuals among 6,803 colonies during five sampling periods and (2) estimating mortality based on 180 m of line-intercept transects completed 4 months before and near the end of the bleaching episode. There was no clear relationship between the loss of color and either direct observation or transect-based estimates of mortality for the 18 taxa. The morphology of the taxa did not influence color loss but branching and encrusting taxa had higher mortality than massive and submassive taxa. Loss of color and mortality are the most common responses to warm water as only Pavona did not lose color or die and only two taxa, Cyphastrea and Millepora, did not significantly lose color but died. Of the 15 taxa that lost color, five taxa,
Astreopora, Favia, Favites,
Goniopora, and Leptoria, did not die. These taxa are those most likely to have reduced potential mortality by the loss of pigments and associated algal symbionts. Death of the branching taxa was detected reasonably by direct field observation but some taxa were underestimated when compared with mortality estimates based on line transects. Death of encrusting and massive taxa including
Echinopora, Galaxea, Hydnophora,
Montipora, Platygyra, and massive Porites was poorly detected from direct observations but they proved to have modest to high mortality (20–80%) based on line transects. There was no single response of these common corals to warm water but these data, collected during an extreme warm-water anomaly, indicate that the loss of color is most frequently a sign of morbidity, particularly for branching and encrusting taxa.
259 citations
TL;DR: Overall, although there were changes in some of the parameters listed above, and in coral genus abundance patterns, no evidence for decreased diversity and ecological health of sedimentinfluenced reefs could be found for the set of community-level measurements of the shallow-water coral assemblage.
198 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review current knowledge about turbid zone reefs from the inner-shelf regions of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia to consider these issues and to evaluate reef growth in the period prior to and post European settlement.
80 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2016 | 3 |
| 2015 | 2 |