DOI: 10.1002/2017JG004091
Scopus记录号: 2-s2.0-85040610929
论文题名: Evidence for the Thermal Bleaching of Porites Corals From 4.0 ka B.P. in the Northern South China Sea
作者: Xu S. ; Yu K. ; Tao S. ; Wu C.-C. ; Wang Y. ; Jiang W. ; Wang S. ; Shen C.-C.
刊名: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
ISSN: 21698953
出版年: 2018
卷: 123, 期: 1 起始页码: 79
结束页码: 94
语种: 英语
英文关键词: coral bleaching
; geochemical evidence
; mid-Holocene
; mortality
; Northern South China Sea
Scopus关键词: coral bleaching
; coral reef
; environmental stress
; fossil record
; geochemistry
; global warming
; hiatus
; Holocene
; mortality
; physiological response
; proxy climate record
; sea surface salinity
; symbiont
; zooxanthella
; Pacific Ocean
; South China Sea
; Anthozoa
; Porites
英文摘要: Coral bleaching is becoming a serious issue for coral reefs under the stress of global warming. However, whether it has occurred in the past in times of thermal stress remains unclear. Moreover, an understanding of historic coral bleaching events would greatly improve our insight into the adaptive capabilities of corals under such stresses. It is known that Porites corals, a massive coral, have relatively high levels of symbiotic zooxanthellae and a strong thermal tolerance when compared with most other corals (and particularly branched corals). Thus, growth hiatuses and/or mortality surfaces of fossil Porites may be used to indicate past ecological or environmental stress events, such as severe bleaching. In this study, monthly geochemical and isotopic environmental proxies of four fossil Porites corals with well-preserved growth hiatuses and mortality surfaces (aged 3,800–4,200 years before 2013 A.D.), collected from Wenchang fringing reef, Hainan Island, Northern South China Sea were analyzed. Specifically, the Sr/Ca, δ18O, and δ13C were measured with a monthly resolution for each sample. These environmental proxies were used to reconstruct the sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS), and physiological activity of the coral at the time when the growth hiatuses and/or mortality surfaces occurred. These data were subsequently used to determine the causes of coral mortality and growth discontinuity in each case. The results show that growth hiatuses and mortalities mainly occurred in summer, with high SST (31–34°C) and SSS (32.8–38.4). In addition, abrupt negative shifts of 2–3‰ in δ13C were observed in almost all of the surfaces of growth hiatus and mortality, indicating a dramatically reduced level of photosynthetic activity in symbiotic zooxanthellae. Because of the above reasons, we conclude that the frequently observed mortality and growth discontinuity of Porites corals from the mid-Holocene is evidence for thermal bleaching events in the past. That is, coral bleaching has occurred 3,800–4,200 years ago and is not a new phenomenon. ©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/114794
Appears in Collections: 气候减缓与适应
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作者单位: Coral Reef Research Centre of China, Guangxi University, Nanning, China; Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Guangxi University, Nanning, China; School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning, China; South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China; High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Recommended Citation:
Xu S.,Yu K.,Tao S.,et al. Evidence for the Thermal Bleaching of Porites Corals From 4.0 ka B.P. in the Northern South China Sea[J]. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences,2018-01-01,123(1)