Mikayla Mays

English 363

Annotated Bibliography

Working Title:

Coral Bleaching Literature Review

Research Question:

What research currently exists on the topic of coral bleaching, and what suggestions have

been put forth to contribute to a solution?

Introduction:

Coral reefs contain very diverse ecosystems, so when climate change causes mass coral

bleaching scientists get concerned. Coral bleaching happens when coral is exposed to higher than

average water temperatures, which causes symbiotic algae that live in the coral to die and

subsequently be expelled (Braverman 2017). Since the algae provide the coral with energy from

their photosynthetic processes, this weakens the coral (Levas et al 2018). It is called "bleaching"

because the algae is highly pigmented, so when it is expelled the coral is left without pigment

and appears white. Most coral species are susceptible to bleaching when water temperatures go

above the local average for the warmest month of the year (Braverman 2017, Levas et al 2018).

Coral bleaching increases mortality of the coral, which effects many species of fish that use the

reef as a habitat (Wismer et al 2019). Global efforts to minimize coral bleaching are mainly

centered around the creation of mathematical models to predict mass bleaching events instead of

preventative action (Braverman 2017, Antonelli et al 2014)

Annotations:

Antonelli, P. L., Rutz, S. F., Sammarco, P. W., & Strychar, K. B. (2014). A coral bleaching

model. Nonlinear Analysis: Real World Applications,16, 65-73. Retrieved March 11, 2019, from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1468121813000771.

Mathematical models are used to investigate the adaptability of coral and it's algal

symbiote to bleaching events. This source has a brief, easy to understand explanation of the

cause of coral bleaching, which could be useful in the introduction. It mentions that a

"generation" for coral species is usually several years, which limits the speed of adaptation to

rapidly changing ocean temperatures. This could be mentioned to reinforce the need to act

quickly. It also could be used as an example of the main methods being used to study coral

bleaching.

Braverman, I. (2017). Bleached!: Managing coral catastrophe. Futures,92, 12-28. Retrieved

March 11, 2019, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001632871630091X.

This article details current strategies in place to manage coral bleaching and calls for

action instead of just monitoring. This source goes deeper into causes of coral bleaching and has

a useful graphic on page 3 that could be included in the review article. This could be used as a

call to action as it makes the point that most of the time when a coral bleaching event is

predicted, most of the efforts made are data collection to improve mathematical models instead

of trying to prevent it. One of the mathematical models is detailed in the paper by Antonelli et al.
Levas, S., Schoepf, V., Warner, M. E., Aschaffenburg, M., Baumann, J., & Grottoli, A. G.

(2018). Long-term recovery of Caribbean corals from bleaching. Journal of Experimental

Marine Biology and Ecology,506, 124-134. Retrieved March 11, 2019, from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022098117302071.

Researchers used elevated water temperatures to bleach three different species of coral

and measure their recovery. This article talks about resilience among coral species and shows

evidence that some can withstand mild bleaching events, with most specimens recovering within

11 months. However, this was a limited study as they only used three species and subjected them

to mild heat stress. This article could counter an argument used against human action to prevent

global warming (i.e. the idea that nature will adapt to the new temperatures so we don't need to

do anything) by showing that adaptation only happens for small changes in ocean temperatures.

Wismer, S., Tebbett, S. B., Streit, R. P., & Bellwood, D. R. (2019). Spatial mismatch in fish

and coral loss following 2016 mass coral bleaching. Science of The Total Environment,650(1),

1487-1498. Retrieved March 11, 2019, from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969718335563?via=ihub.

Researchers used novel methodology to quantify the connection between live coral death

due to bleaching and declines in reef fish population. They documented a decline in the fish

population, but statistically it was not related to severity of live coral death. This could be used to

prove that the fish populations do decline during bleaching events.