Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
Growth Rates of Florida Corals from 1937 to 1996 and Their Response to Climate Change
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2011
Publication Title
Nature Communications
Keywords
Climate change, Coral reefs, Physical oceanography, Florida
ISSN
2041-1723
Volume
2
Issue/No.
215
First Page
1
Last Page
6
Abstract
Ocean acidification causes declines in calcification rates of corals because of decreasing aragonite saturation states (Ωarag). Recent evidence also indicates that increasing sea surface temperatures may have already reduced growth and calcification rates because of the stenothermic threshold of localized coral populations. Density banding in coral skeletons provides a record of growth over the coral's lifespan. Here we present coral extension, bulk density and calcification master chronologies from seven subtropical corals (Montastraea faveolata) located in the Florida Keys, USA with a 60-year common period, 1937–1996. Linear trends indicate that extension increased, density decreased and calcification remained stable while the most recent decade was not significantly different than decadal averages over the preceding 50 years for extension and calcification. The results suggest that growth rates in this species of subtropical coral have been tolerant to recent climatic changes up to the time of collection (1996).
NSUWorks Citation
Helmle, Kevin P., Richard E. Dodge, Peter K. Swart, Dwight K. Gledhill, and C. Mark Eakin. "Growth rates of Florida corals from 1937 to 1996 and their response to climate change." Nature communications 2 (2011): 215.
ResearcherID
B-5241-2011
DOI
10.1038/ncomms1222
Comments
©2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.