-
Tytuł:
-
Uranium-thorium dating of coral mortality and community shift in a highly disturbed inshore reef (Weizhou Island, northern South China Sea).
-
Autorzy:
-
Chen T; Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou 511458, China. Electronic address: .
Li S; Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China. Electronic address: .
Zhao J; Radiogenic Isotope Facility, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
Feng Y; Radiogenic Isotope Facility, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
-
Źródło:
-
The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2021 Jan 15; Vol. 752, pp. 141866. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Aug 21.
-
Typ publikacji:
-
Journal Article
-
Język:
-
English
-
Imprint Name(s):
-
Original Publication: Amsterdam, Elsevier.
-
MeSH Terms:
-
Anthozoa*
Uranium*
Animals ; China ; Coral Reefs ; Ecosystem ; Environmental Monitoring ; Humans ; Islands ; Thorium
-
Contributed Indexing:
-
Keywords: Abnormal sea surface temperatures; Anthropogenic disturbance; Inshore reef decline; Marginal environment; South China Sea; UTh dating
-
Substance Nomenclature:
-
4OC371KSTK (Uranium)
60YU5MIG9W (Thorium)
-
Entry Date(s):
-
Date Created: 20200905 Date Completed: 20201118 Latest Revision: 20201118
-
Update Code:
-
20240104
-
DOI:
-
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141866
-
PMID:
-
32889282
-
Inshore coral habitats are at high risk of loss due to a combination of climate warming and regional-scale human impacts. As a result, they have undergone significant declines. Direct evidence of acute and chronic disturbance on most inshore coral assemblages is limited. Long-term, periodical surveys and historical baseline data essential for effective management are lacking. Using high-precision uranium-thorium (UTh) dating, we reconstruct a ~100-year-long history of extensive coral loss, changes in coral community structure, and a shifting baseline. The data were collected at Weizhou Island, northern South China Sea (SCS), which has highly disturbed inshore coral habitats that are typical globally. According to our UTh dates, major coral mortalities around Weizhou Island have occurred since the 1950s, with increasing frequency and severity since the 1980s. The extensive loss of branching Acropora and collapse of coral communities with peaks around 1960, 1984, and 1998 are accompanied by a shift toward low coral cover and noncoral-dominated assemblages. Prior to this collapse, the local coral community structure sustained remarkable long-term stability over millennia. The timing of the Acropora loss and massive coral mortalities coincides with multiple acute and chronic, natural and anthropogenic disturbance events. We suggest that priority should be given to directly addressing the causes of degradation and effectively controlling chronic disturbances before attempting to restore reef ecosystems. This is probably the only way to solve the "wicked problem" of sustaining the key functions and ecosystem services of inshore coral habitats such as those of Weizhou Island, northern SCS.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
