Thermal-stress events that cause coral bleaching and mortality have recently increased in frequency and severity. Yet few studies have explored conditions that moderate coral bleaching. Given that high light and high ocean temperature together cause coral bleaching, we explore whether corals at turbid localities, with reduced light, are less likely to bleach during thermal-stress events than corals at other localities. We analyzed coral bleaching, temperature, and turbidity data from 3,694 sites worldwide with a Bayesian model and found that Kd 490, a measurement positively related to turbidity, between 0.080 and 0.127 reduced coral bleaching during thermal-stress events. Approximately 12% of the world's reefs exist within this "moderating turbidity" range, and 30% of reefs that have moderating turbidity are in the Coral Triangle. We suggest that these turbid nearshore environments may provide some refuge through climate change, but these reefs will need high conservation status to sustain them close to dense human populations.

中文翻译：

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在与气候有关的温度胁迫下，混浊的珊瑚礁会缓和珊瑚的漂白。

导致珊瑚褪色和死亡的热应激事件最近在频率和严重性上有所增加。然而，很少有研究探索减轻珊瑚白化的条件。鉴于高光照和高海洋温度共同导致珊瑚白化，我们探索在热应力事件中混浊地区的珊瑚在热应力事件期间是否比其他地区的珊瑚更不可能漂白。我们使用贝叶斯模型分析了全球3694个站点的珊瑚漂白，温度和浊度数据，发现与浊度成正比的Kd 490在0.080和0.127之间减少了热应力事件期间的珊瑚漂白。在这个“缓和浊度”范围内，世界上大约有12％的珊瑚礁存在，而缓和浊度的珊瑚礁中有30％在珊瑚三角中。