Global warming and coral reefs: modelling the effect of temperature on Acropora Palmata colony growth

James Crabbe

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 13 Climate Action

Abstract

Data on colony growth of the branching coral Acropora palmata from fringing reefs off Discovery Bay on the north coast of Jamaica have been obtained over the period 2002-2007 using underwater photography and image analysis by both SCUBA and remotely using an ROV incorporating twin lasers. Growth modelling shows that while logarithmic growth is an approximate model for growth, a 3:3 rational polynomial function provides a significantly better fit to growth data for this coral species. Over the period 2002-2007, involving several cycles of sea surface temperature (SST) change, the rate of growth of A. palmata was largely proportional to rate of change of SST, with R(2)=0.935. These results have implications for the influence of global warming and climate change on coral reef ecosystems.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Computational Biology and Chemistry

Publication milestones

Published - 01/01/2007

Publication status

Published - 01/01/2007

ISSN

1476-9271

External Publication IDs

handle.net: 10547/293925
Scopus: 34447645659

Access to documents

10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2007.05.001

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