Terry P Hughes, James T Kerry, Andrew H Baird, Sean R Connolly, Andreas Dietzel, C Mark Eakin, Scott F Heron, Andrew S Hoey, Mia O Hoogenboom, Gang Liu, Michael J McWilliam, Rachel J Pears, Morgan S Pratchett, William J Skirving, Jessica S Stella, Gergely Torda
Author Information
Terry P Hughes: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. terry.hughes@jcu.edu.au.
James T Kerry: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Andrew H Baird: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Sean R Connolly: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Andreas Dietzel: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
C Mark Eakin: Coral Reef Watch, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, College Park, MD, USA.
Scott F Heron: Coral Reef Watch, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, College Park, MD, USA.
Andrew S Hoey: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Mia O Hoogenboom: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Gang Liu: Coral Reef Watch, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, College Park, MD, USA.
Michael J McWilliam: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Rachel J Pears: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Morgan S Pratchett: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
William J Skirving: Coral Reef Watch, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, College Park, MD, USA.
Jessica S Stella: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Gergely Torda: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Global warming is rapidly emerging as a universal threat to ecological integrity and function, highlighting the urgent need for a better understanding of the impact of heat exposure on the resilience of ecosystems and the people who depend on them . Here we show that in the aftermath of the record-breaking marine heatwave on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 , corals began to die immediately on reefs where the accumulated heat exposure exceeded a critical threshold of degree heating weeks, which was 3-4 °C-weeks. After eight months, an exposure of 6 °C-weeks or more drove an unprecedented, regional-scale shift in the composition of coral assemblages, reflecting markedly divergent responses to heat stress by different taxa. Fast-growing staghorn and tabular corals suffered a catastrophic die-off, transforming the three-dimensionality and ecological functioning of 29% of the 3,863 reefs comprising the world's largest coral reef system. Our study bridges the gap between the theory and practice of assessing the risk of ecosystem collapse, under the emerging framework for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Ecosystems , by rigorously defining both the initial and collapsed states, identifying the major driver of change, and establishing quantitative collapse thresholds. The increasing prevalence of post-bleaching mass mortality of corals represents a radical shift in the disturbance regimes of tropical reefs, both adding to and far exceeding the influence of recurrent cyclones and other local pulse events, presenting a fundamental challenge to the long-term future of these iconic ecosystems.
