Marine heatwaves are increasing in frequency and duration, threatening tropical reef ecosystems through intensified coral bleaching events. We examined a strikingly variable spatial pattern of bleaching in Moorea, French Polynesia following a heatwave that lasted from November 2018 to July 2019. In July 2019, four months after the onset of bleaching, we surveyed > 5000 individual colonies of the two dominant coral genera,
For many long‐lived taxa, such as trees and corals, older, and larger individuals often have the lowest mortality and highest fecundity. However, climate change‐driven disturbances such as droughts and heatwaves may fundamentally alter typical size‐dependent patterns of mortality and reproduction in these important foundation taxa. Working in Moorea, French Polynesia, we investigated how a marine heatwave in 2019, one of the most intense marine heatwaves at our sites over the past 30 years, drove patterns of coral bleaching and mortality. The marine heatwave drove island‐wide mass coral bleaching that killed up to 76% and 65% of the largest individuals of the two dominant coral genera,
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10372754
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Global Change Biology
- Volume:
- 28
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1354-1013
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 1342-1358
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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