Adaptive responses and local stressor mitigation drive coral resilience in warmer, more acidic oceans

Coral reefs have great biological and socioeconomic value, but are threatened by ocean acidification, climate change, and local human impacts. The capacity for corals to adapt or acclimatise to novel environmental conditions is unknown but fundamental to projected reef futures. The coral reefs of Kāne‘ohe Bay, Hawai‘i were devastated by anthropogenic insults from the 1930s-1970s. These reefs experience naturally reduced pH and elevated temperature relative to many other Hawaiian reefs which are not expected to face similar conditions for decades. Despite catastrophic loss in coral cover due to human disturbance, these reefs recovered under low pH and high temperature within 20 years after sewage input was diverted. We compare the pH and temperature tolerances of three dominant Hawaiian coral species from within Kāne‘ohe Bay to conspecifics from a nearby control site and show that corals from Kāne‘ohe are far more resistant to acidification and warming. These results show that corals can...

珊瑚礁具有极高的生物学与社会经济价值，却正面临海洋酸化、气候变化以及当地人类活动的多重威胁。珊瑚对新型环境条件的适应或驯化能力目前尚不明确，但该能力对预测珊瑚礁未来的存续状态至关重要。美国夏威夷州卡内奥赫湾（Kāne‘ohe Bay）的珊瑚礁曾在1930年至1970年间因人为活动遭受毁灭性破坏。与其他多数夏威夷珊瑚礁相比，该区域珊瑚礁长期处于自然低pH值与高温环境中，而其他夏威夷珊瑚礁预计数十年内都不会面临类似环境条件。尽管人类活动导致珊瑚覆盖率遭遇灾难性下降，但在污水输入被切断后的20年内，这些珊瑚礁便在低pH值与高温环境下完成了恢复。本研究对比了卡内奥赫湾内三种优势夏威夷珊瑚物种与附近对照位点同种珊瑚的pH值与温度耐受能力，结果显示，卡内奥赫湾的珊瑚对酸化与升温的耐受能力显著更强。上述研究结果表明，珊瑚能够……