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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
    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

Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/293925
  • Scopus: 34447645659

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