Title
Seeking resilience in marine ecosystems With recovery windows closing, how can reef corals resist climate change?
Author(s)
Darling, E.S.;Cote, I.M.
Published
2018
Publisher
Science
Abstract
Resilience is a popular narrative for conservation and provides an opportunity to communicate optimism that ecosystems can recover and rebound from disturbances. A resilience lens also reinforces the need for continued conservation investments, even in degraded ecosystems. It is probably for these reasons that resilience has become a conceptual cornerstone in the management of tropical coral reefs, which are one of the ecosystems most vulnerable to climate change.
The term “resilience” captures two dynamic processes: the ability of ecosystems to resist and absorb disturbance, and their ability to recover. Recent observations suggest that coral reef recovery is increasingly unlikely. The time windows for reefs to recover from consecutive mass bleaching events have shrunk from 25 to 30 years a few decades ago to just 6 years—far shorter than the 10 to 15 years that even the fastest-growing corals need to bounce back from catastrophic mortality (1). There has been some recovery from recent bleaching events on reefs that are isolated (2) or deeper and more structurally complex (3). Understanding more about how to catalyze such recovery processes is important. However, if climate change continues unabated, resilience may come not from the ability of coral reefs to recover but from their ability to resist.
Keywords
Science & Technology - Other Topics
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PUB23955