Open AccessMesophotic coral communities escape thermal coral bleaching in French Polynesia
Author(s) -
Gonzalo PérezRosales,
Héloïse Rouzé,
Gergely Torda,
Pim Bongaerts,
Michel Pichon,
Valeriano Parravicini,
Laëtitia Hédouin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
royal society open science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 51
ISSN - 2054-5703
DOI - 10.1098/rsos.210139
Subject(s) - coral , coral bleaching , reef , coral reef , range (aeronautics) , oceanography , irradiance , climate change , environmental science , ecology , anthozoa , geology , biology , materials science , physics , quantum mechanics , composite material
Climate change and consequent coral bleaching are causing the disappearance of reef-building corals worldwide. While bleaching episodes significantly impact shallow waters, little is known about their impact on mesophotic coral communities. We studied the prevalence of coral bleaching two to three months after a heat stress event, along an extreme depth range from 6 to 90 m in French Polynesia. Bayesian modelling showed a decreasing probability of bleaching of all coral genera over depth, with little to no bleaching observed at lower mesophotic depths (greater than or equal to 60 m). We found that depth-generalist corals benefit more from increasing depth than depth-specialists (corals with a narrow depth range). Our data suggest that the reduced prevalence of bleaching with depth, especially from shallow to upper mesophotic depths (40 m), had a stronger relation with the light-irradiance attenuation than temperature. While acknowledging the geographical and temporal variability of the role of mesophotic reefs as spatial refuges during thermal stress, we ought to understand why coral bleaching reduces with depth. Future studies should consider repeated monitoring and detailed ecophysiological and environmental data. Our study demonstrated how increasing depth may offer a level of protection and that lower mesophotic communities could escape the impacts of a thermal bleaching event.