Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 318; no. 5857; pp. 1737 - 1742
• Main Authors: Hoegh-Guldberg, O, Mumby, P.J, Hooten, A.J, Steneck, R.S, Greenfield, P, Gomez, E, Harvell, C.D, Sale, P.F, Edwards, A.J, Caldeira, K, Knowlton, N, Eakin, C.M, Iglesias-Prieto, R, Muthiga, N, Bradbury, R.H, Dubi, A, Hatziolos, M.E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 14.12.2007; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Accretion; Acidification; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Anthozoa - growth & development; Anthozoa - physiology; Applied ecology; Atmosphere; Biological and medical sciences; Carbon Dioxide; Carbonates; Climate; Climate change; Coastal fisheries; Coastal zone management; Coral reefs; Corals; Dinoflagellida - physiology; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; emissions; Environmental protection; Eukaryota - physiology; fisheries; Fishes; Forecasting; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Global temperatures; Global warming; Greenhouse Effect; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; International environmental cooperation; Marine; Marine and brackish environment; Marine ecosystems; Marine organisms; Ocean acidification; Oceans and Seas; Overexploitation; people; Predictions; Reefs; Review; Sea water; Seawater - chemistry; Temperature; tourism; Water quality; Mortality; Carbon dioxide; Acidification; Coral reef; Review; Forecasting; Dynamical climatology; Marine environment; Climate change; Coelenterata; Human activity; Animal community; Cnidaria; Planetary scale; Ocean; Water pollution; Invertebrata; Anthropogenic factor
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1152509

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is expected to exceed 500 parts per million and global temperatures to rise by at least 2°C by 2050 to 2100, values that significantly exceed those of at least the past 420,000 years during which most extant marine organisms evolved. Under conditions expected in the 21st century, global warming and ocean acidification will compromise carbonate accretion, with corals becoming increasingly rare on reef systems. The result will be less diverse reef communities and carbonate reef structures that fail to be maintained. Climate change also exacerbates local stresses from declining water quality and overexploitation of key species, driving reefs increasingly toward the tipping point for functional collapse. This review presents future scenarios for coral reefs that predict increasingly serious consequences for reef-associated fisheries, tourism, coastal protection, and people. As the International Year of the Reef 2008 begins, scaled-up management intervention and decisive action on global emissions are required if the loss of coral-dominated ecosystems is to be avoided.