Disturbance to biotic systems is usually studied on two very different scales. Ecologists by
necessity limit their studies to short-lived, localized perturbations such as the pounding of …

Coral bleaching, ie, loss of most of the symbiotic zooxanthellae normally found within coral
tissue, has occurred with increasing frequency on coral reefs throughout the world in the last …

Caribbean populations of the elkhorn coral Acropora palmata have declined due to
environmental stress, bleaching, and disease. Potential sources of coral mortality include …

High temperature tolerance experiments performed on Pocillopora damicornis, a major reef-
building coral in the tropical eastern Pacific, resulted in loss of zooxanthellae …

Loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae, or “bleaching” is one of the first visible signs of thermal
stress. Critical threshold temperatures for coral bleaching vary geographically, but can be …

Elevated temperatures and solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation have been implicated as recent
causes for the loss of symbiotic algae (ie, bleaching) in corals and other invertebrates with …

Reef-building corals are obligate, mutualistic symbioses of heterotrophic animals and
phototrophic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.). Contrary to the earlier, widely accepted …

Bleaching (loss of pigmentation by corals) is a widespread phenomenon in coral-reef
ecosystems. Despite this, the underlying causes of some forms of bleaching are poorly …

Recent widespread bleaching of coral reef anthozoans has been observed on the Great
Barrier Reef, the Pacific coast of Panama, and in the Caribbean Sea. Bleaching events have …

Elevated temperature (28-34 degrees C) has been hypothesized as the primary cause of the
loss of algal endosymbionts in coral reef-associated invertebrates, a phenomenon observed …