Coral Reef Monitoring for Climate Change Impacts

(7) Global Climate Change & The Corals’ Environment.

Sources of Climate Stress.

1.Sea Level Rise:

2 –9 mm/year.

2.Increased Temperature:

2º C/ 100 years.

3.Increased Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations:

14 – 30% reduction in calcification rates.

(Adapted from Wilkinson & Buddemier, 1994)

Global Climate Change may impose new stresses on reefs, or it may interact synergistically with more direct anthropogenic pressures to accelerate environmental damage.


	Added to the traditional threats, is global climate change which will produce:

	•SEA LEVEL RISE of from 2 to 9 mm per year, which should not be a problem
	for healthy reefs (1 cm per year).

	•INCEASING SEA WATER TEMERATURES will exceed the thermal tolerance of
	Reef building corals within the next few decades. Frequency of coral bleaching
	(and hence coral mortality) will rise Rapidly, with the rate being greatest in the Caribbean.
	•The condition of coral reefs will be severely compromised over the next several hundred
	Years.

	•INCREASED CARBON DIOXIDE CONCENTRATIONS in the atmosphere will
	Decrease calcium carbonate saturation state of sea water by 30%
	Þreduced calcification rates Of corals by 14% to 30% by 2050.

	•INCREASE UV IRRADIATION: can affect health and recruitment