Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Coral community resilience to successive years of bleaching in Kāne‘ohe Bay, Hawai‘i

  • Report
  • Published:
Coral Reefs Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Hawaiian Islands are at the northern edge of coral reef distributions, and corals found there are exposed to large seasonal temperature changes. Historically, coral bleaching in the Hawaiian Islands was extremely rare and had only occurred in 1996. However, in the summers of both 2014 and 2015, successive bleaching events occurred in Kāne‘ohe Bay, O‘ahu. Seawater temperatures were above 28 °C for approximately 1 month in 2014 and 3 months in 2015 and peaked above 30 °C in both years. Patterns of bleaching did not vary among the three sites within Kāne‘ohe Bay. Severe bleaching and paling covered 77 and 55% of reefs in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Different species showed a range of susceptibility with 80–100% of Pocillopora spp. bleaching in both years, but less than 50% bleaching of Porites compressa and Montipora capitata in Kāne‘ohe Bay. Less than 1% of the encrusting coral Leptastrea purpurea colonies bleached in both years. Sixty individual colonies of P. compressa and M. capitata and 28 colonies of Pocillopora damicornis were tagged and monitored for rates of bleaching, recovery and mortality throughout the two-year period. Most of the colonies that bleached recovered their symbionts within 3–4 months, though P. compressa visually recovered more rapidly than M. capitata and P. damicornis. Cumulatively, 19% of P. damicornis, 10% of M. capitata and no P. compressa died by May 2016. Partial mortality within a colony did not occur in 2014, but impacted 13% of the colonies in 2015, with P. damicornis and M. capitata having higher rates of partial mortality than P. compressa. Relatively, low susceptibility in the dominant species and low rates of mortality combined with rapid rates of recovery show coral resilience to anomalously high temperatures in Kāne‘ohe Bay, O‘ahu.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ainsworth TD, Thurber RV, Gates RD (2010) The future of coral reefs: a microbial perspective. Trends Ecol Evol 25:233–240

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ainsworth TD, Heron SF, Ortiz JC, Mumby PJ, Grech A, Ogawa D, Eakin CM, Leggat W (2016) Climate change disables coral bleaching protection on the Great Barrier Reef. Science 352:338–342

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson JT, Willis JH, Mitchell-Olds T (2011) Evolutionary genetics of plant adaptation. Trends Genet 27:258–266

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ashcroft MB (2010) Identifying refugia from climate change. J Biogeogr 37:1407–1413

    Google Scholar 

  • Bahr KD, Jokiel PL, Toonen RJ (2015) The unnatural history of Kāne‘ohe Bay: coral reef resilience in the face of centuries of anthropogenic impacts. Peerj 3:e950

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Baird AH, Marshall PA (2002) Mortality, growth and reproduction in scleractinian corals following bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 237:133–141

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker AC (2003) Flexibility and specificity in coral-algal symbiosis: diversity, ecology, and biogeography of Symbiodinium. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 34:661–689

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker AC, Glynn PW, Riegl B (2008) Climate change and coral reef bleaching: an ecological assessment of long-term impacts, recovery trends and future outlook. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 80:435–471

    Google Scholar 

  • Barshis DJ, Ladner JT, Oliver TA, Seneca FO, Traylor-Knowles N, Palumbi SR (2013) Genomic basis for coral resilience to climate change. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110:1387–1392

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blunden J, Arndt DS, Hartfield G (2018) State of the climate in 2017. Bull Am Meteor Soc 99:S1–S310

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourne DG, Morrow KM, Webster NS (2016) Insights into the coral microbiome: underpinning the health and resilience of reef ecosystems. Ann Rev Microbiol 70:317–340

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brown B (1997) Coral bleaching: causes and consequences. Coral Reefs 16:129–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown BE, Dunne RP, Goodson MS, Douglas AE (2002) Experience shapes the susceptibility of a reef coral to bleaching. Coral Reefs 21:119–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt J, Paparella F, Al-Mansoori N, Al-Mansoori A, Al-Jailani H (2019) Causes and consequences of the 2017 coral bleaching event in the southern Persian/Arabian Gulf. Coral Reefs 38:567–589

    Google Scholar 

  • Cacciapaglia C, van Woesik R (2015) Reef-coral refugia in a rapidly changing ocean. Global Change Biol 21:2272–2282

    Google Scholar 

  • Carilli J, Donner SD, Hartmann AC (2012) Historical temperature variability affects coral response to heat stress. PLoS ONE 7:e34418

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Coles SL, Brown BE (2003) Coral bleaching—capacity for acclimatization and adaptation. Adv Mar Biol 46:184–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Csaszar NBM, Seneca FO, van Oppen MJH (2009) Variation in antioxidant gene expression in the scleractinian coral Acropora millepora under laboratory thermal stress. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 392:93–102

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cunning R, Silverstein RN, Baker AC (2015) Investigating the causes and consequences of symbiont shuffling in a multi-partner reef coral symbiosis under environmental change. Proc R Soc B 282:20141725

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cunning R, Ritson-Williams R, Gates RD (2016) Patterns of bleaching and recovery of Montipora capitata in Kāne‘ohe Bay, Hawai’i, USA. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 551:131–139

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • D’Angelo C, Hume B, Burt J, EG S, Achterberg E, Wiedenmann J (2015) Local adaptation constrains the distribution potential of heat-tolerant Symbiodinium from the Persian/Arabian Gulf. ISME J 9:2551–2560

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz-Pulido G, McCook LJ, Dove S, Berkelmans R, Roff G, Kline DI, Evans DL, Williamson DH, Hoegh-Guldberg O (2009) Doom and boom on a resilient reef: climate change, algal overgrowth and coral recovery. PLoS ONE 4:e5239

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Donner SD, Skirving WJ, Little CM, Oppenheimer M, Hoegh-Guldberg O (2005) Global assessment of coral bleaching and required rates of adaptation under climate change. Global Change Biol 11:2251–2265

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas AE (2003) Coral bleaching—how and why? Mar Pol Bull 46:385–392

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eakin CM, Sweatman HPA, Brainard RE (2019) The 2014–2017 global-scale coral bleaching event: insights and impacts. Coral Reefs 38:539–545

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmunds PJ, Gates RD (2008) Acclimatization in tropical reef corals. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 361:307–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmunds PJ, Adjeroud M, Baskett ML, Baums IB, Budd AF, Carpenter RC, Fabina NS, Fan TY, Franklin EC, Gross K, Han X, Jacobson L, Klause JS, McClanahan TR, O’Leary JK, van Oppen MJH, Pochon X, Putnam HM, Smith TB, Stat M, Sweatman H, van Woesik R, Gates RD (2014) Persistence and change in community composition of reef corals through present, past, and future climates. PLoS ONE 9:e107525

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards AJ, Clark S, Zahir H, Rajasuriya A, Naseer A, Rubens J (2001) Coral bleaching and mortality on artificial and natural reefs in Maldives in 1998, sea surface temperature anomalies and initial recovery. Mar Pol Bull 42:7–15

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fitt WK, Brown BE, Warner ME, Dunne RP (2001) Coral bleaching: interpretation of thermal tolerance limits and thermal thresholds in tropical corals. Coral Reefs 20:51–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilmour JP, Smith LD, Heyward AJ, Baird AH, Pratchett MS (2013) Recovery of an isolated coral reef system following severe disturbance. Science 340:69–71

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Glynn PW (1983) Extensive bleaching and death of reef corals on the Pacific coast of Panama. Environ Conserv 10:149–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Glynn PW (1984) Widespread coral mortality and the 1982–83 El Nino warming event. Environ Conserv 11:133–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Glynn PW (1996) Coral reef bleaching: facts, hypotheses and implications. Global Change Biol 2:495–509

    Google Scholar 

  • Glynn PW, Mate JL, Baker AC, Calderon MO (2001) Coral bleaching and mortality in Panama and Ecuador during the 1997–1998 El Nino-Southern oscillation event: spatial/temporal patterns and comparisons with the 1982–1983 event. Bull Mar Sci 69:79–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Golbuu Y, Victor S, Penland L, Idip D, Emaurois C, Okaji K, Yukihira H, Iwase A, van Woesik R (2007) Palau’s coral reefs show differential habitat recovery following the 1998-bleaching event. Coral Reefs 26:319–332

    Google Scholar 

  • Goreau TF, Goreau NI, Goreau TJ (1979) Corals and coral reefs. Sci Am 241:124–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Grottoli AG, Rodrigues LJ, Palardy JE (2006) Heterotrophic plasticity and resilience in bleached corals. Nature 440:1186–1189

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guest JR, Baird AH, Maynard JA, Muttaqin E, Edwards AJ, Campbell SJ, Yewdall K, Affendi YA, Chou LM (2012) Contrasting patterns of coral bleaching susceptibility in 2010 suggest an adaptive response to thermal stress. PLoS ONE 7:e33353

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Guest JR, Low J, Tun K, Wilson B, Ng C, Raingeard D, Ulstrup KE, Tanzil JTI, Todd PA, Toh TC, McDougald D, Chou LM, Steinberg PD (2016) Coral community response to bleaching on a highly disturbed reef. Scientific Reports 6:20717

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Guest JR, Edmunds PJ, Gates RD, Kuffner IB, Andersson AJ, Barnes BB, Chollett I, Courtney TA, Elahi R, Gross K, Lenz EA, Mitarai S, Mumby PJ, Nelson HR, Parker BA, Putnam HM, Rogers CS, Toth LT (2018) A framework for identifying and characterising coral reef “oases” against a backdrop of degradation. J Appl Ecol 55:2865–2875

    Google Scholar 

  • Head C, Bayley D, Rowlands G, Roche RC, Tickler DM, Rogers AD, Koldewey H, Turner JR, Andradi-Brown D (2019) Coral bleaching impacts from back-to-back 2015–2016 thermal anomalies in the remote central Indian Ocean. Coral Reefs 38:605–618

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson D, McDonald JL, Hosken DJ (2015) What do you mean, ‘resilient’? Trends Ecol Evol 30:503–506

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoegh-Guldberg O, Mumby PJ, Hooten AJ, Steneck RS, Greenfield P, Gomez E, Harvell CD, Sale PF, Edwards AJ, Caldeira K, Knowlton N, Eakin CM, Iglesias-Prieto R, Muthiga N, Bradbury R, Dubi A, Hatziolos ME (2007) Coral reefs under rapid climate change and ocean acidification. Science 318:1737–1742

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Howells EJ, Berkelmans R, van Oppen MJH, Willis BL, Bay LK (2013) Historical thermal regimes define limits to coral acclimatization. Ecology 94:1078–1088

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes TP, Baird AH, Bellwood DR, Card M, Connolly SR, Folke C, Grosberg R, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Jackson JBC, Kleypas J, Lough JM, Marshall P, Nystrom M, Palumbi SR, Pandolfi JM, Rosen B, Roughgarden J (2003) Climate change, human impacts, and the resilience of coral reefs. Science 301:929–933

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes TP, Kerry JT, Alvarez-Noriega M, Alvarez-Romero JG, Anderson KD, Baird AH (2017) Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals. Nature 543:373–377

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jokiel PL, Coles SL (1973) Effects of heated effluent on hermatypic corals at Kahe point, O’ahu. Pac Sci 28:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Jokiel PL, Brown EK (2004) Global warming, regional trends and inshore environmental conditions influence coral bleaching in Hawai’i. Global Change Biol 10:1627–1641

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones AM, Berkelmans R, van Oppen MJH, Mieog JC, Sinclair W (2008) A community change in the algal endosymbionts of a scleractinian coral following a natural bleaching event: field evidence of acclimatization. Proc Roy Soc B Biol Sci 275:1359–1365

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Joshi J, Schmid B, Caldeira MC, Dimitrakopoulos PG, Good J, Harris R, Hector A, Huss-Danell K, Jumpponen A, Minns A, Mulder CPH, Pereira JS, Prinz A, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Siamantziouras ASD, Terry AC, Troumbis AY, Lawton JH (2001) Local adaptation enhances performance of common plant species. Ecol Letters 4:536–544

    Google Scholar 

  • Jury CP, Toonen RJ (2019) Adaptive responses and local stressor mitigation drive coral resilience in warmer, more acidic oceans. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 286:20190614

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenkel CD, Goodbody-Gringley G, Caillaud D, Davies SW, Bartels E, Matz MV (2013) Evidence for a host role in thermotolerance divergence between populations of the mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides) from different reef environments. Mol Ecol 22:4335–4348

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • LaJeunesse TC, Thornhill DJ, Cox EF, Stanton FG, Fitt WK, Schmidt GW (2004) High diversity and host specificity observed among symbiotic dinoflagellates in reef coral communities from Hawai’i. Coral Reefs 23:596–603

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitan DR, Boudreau W, Jara J, Knowlton N (2014) Long-term reduced spawning in Orbicella coral species due to temperature stress. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 515:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Littman R, Willis BL, Bourne DG (2011) Metagenomic analysis of the coral holobiont during a natural bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef. Environ Microbio Rep 3:651–660

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu G, Heron SF, Eakin CM, Muller-Karger FE, Vega-Rodriguez M, Guild LS, De La Cour JL, Geiger EF, Skirving WJ, Burgess TFR, Strong AE, Harris A, Maturi E, Ignatov A, Sapper J, Li JK, Lynds S (2014) Reef-scale thermal stress monitoring of coral ecosystems: new 5-km global products from NOAA coral reef watch. Remote Sens 6:11579–11606

    Google Scholar 

  • Logan CA, Dunne JP, Eakin CM, Donner SD (2014) Incorporating adaptive responses into future projections of coral bleaching. Global Change Biol 20:125–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe RJ, Falter JL, Monismith SG, Atkinson MJ (2009) A numerical study of circulation in a coastal reef-lagoon system. J Geophys Res 114:c06022

    Google Scholar 

  • Loya Y, Sakai K, Yamazato K, Nakano Y, Sambali H, van Woesik R (2001) Coral bleaching: the winners and the losers. Ecol Lett 4:122–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall PA, Baird AH (2000) Bleaching of corals on the Great Barrier Reef: differential susceptibilities among taxa. Coral Reefs 19:155–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Massaro RFS, De Carlo EH, Drupp PS, Mackenzie FT, Jones SM, Shamberger KE, Sabine CL, Feely RA (2012) Multiple factors driving variability of CO2 exchange between the ocean and atmosphere in a tropical coral reef environment. Aquat Geochem 18:357–386

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maynard JA, Anthony KRN, Marshall PA, Masiri I (2008) Major bleaching events can lead to increased thermal tolerance in corals. Mar Biol 155:173–182

    Google Scholar 

  • McClanahan TR, Ateweberhan M, Muhando CA, Maina J, Mohammed MS (2007) Effects of climate and seawater temperature variation on coral bleaching and mortality. Ecol Monogr 77:503–525

    Google Scholar 

  • McClanahan TR, Darling ES, Maina JM, Muthiga NA, D’Agata S, Jupiter SD, Arthur R, Wilson SK, Mangubhai S, Nand Y, Ussi AM, Humphries AT, Patankar VJ, Guillaume MMM, Keith SA, Shedrawi G, Julius P, Grimsditch G, Ndagala J, Leblond J (2019) Temperature patterns and mechanisms influencing coral bleaching during the 2016 El Nino. Nat Clim Chan 9:845–851

    Google Scholar 

  • Muscatine L, Porter JW (1977) Mutualistic symbioses adapted to nutrient-poor environments. Bioscience 27:454–460

    Google Scholar 

  • NOAA (2015) 2015 Annual summaries of thermal conditions related to coral bleaching for NCRMP jurisdictions. https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/analyses_guidance/2015_annual_summaries_bleaching_thermal_conditions_NCRMP.pdf

  • Palumbi SR, Barshis DJ, Traylor-Knowles N, Bay RA (2014) Mechanisms of reef coral resistance to future climate change. Science 344:895–898

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pandolfi JM, Bradbury RH, Sala E, Hughes TP, Bjorndal KA, Cooke RG, McArdle D, McClenachan L, Newman MJH, Peredes G, Warner RR, Jackson JBC (2003) Global trajectories of the long-term decline of coral reef ecosystems. Science 301:955–958

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parmesan C (2006) Ecological and evolutionary responses to recent climate change. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 37:637–669

    Google Scholar 

  • Pauls SU, Nowak C, Balint M, Pfenninger M (2013) The impact of global climate change on genetic diversity within populations and species. Mol Ecol 22:925–946

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pratchett MS, McCowan D, Maynard JA, Heron SF (2013) Changes in bleaching susceptibility among corals subject to ocean warming and recurrent bleaching in Moorea French Polynesia. Plos ONE 8:e70443

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Raymundo LJ, Burdick D, Hoot WC, Miller RM, Brown V, Reynolds T, Gault J, Idechong J, Fifer J, Williams A (2019) Successive bleaching events cause mass coral mortality in Guam, Micronesia. Coral Reefs 38:677–700

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards ZT, Garcia R, Moore G, Fromont J, Kirkendale L, Bryce M, Bryce C, Hara A, Ritchie J, Gomez O, Whisson C, Allen M, Wilson NG (2019) A tropical Australian refuge for photosymbiotic benthic fauna. Coral Reefs 38:669–676

    Google Scholar 

  • Riegl B, Glynn PW, Banks S, Keith I, Rivera F, Vera-Zambrano M, D’Angelo C, Wiedenmann J (2019) Heat attenuation and nutrient delivery by localized upwelling avoided coral bleaching mortality in northern Galapagos during 2015/2016 ENSO. Coral Reefs 38:773–785

    Google Scholar 

  • Ritson-Williams R, Gates RD (2016a) Kāne‘ohe Bay temperature data 2014 and 2015. Zendodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.53226

  • Ritson-Williams R, Gates RD (2016b) Kāne‘ohe Bay sediment data 2015. Zendodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.61137

  • Ritson-Williams R, Gates RD (2016c) Kāne‘ohe Bay light data 2014 and 2015. Zendodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.160214

  • Ritson-Williams R, Wall C, Cunning R, Gates RD (2019) Kāne‘ohe Bay nutrient data 2014-2016. Zendodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2538121

  • Rosado PM, Leite DCA, Duarte GAS, Chaloub RM, Jospin G, Nunes da Rocha U, Saraiva JP, Dini-Andreote F, Eisen JA, Bourne DG, Peixoto RS (2019) Marine probiotics: increasing coral resistance to bleaching through microbiome manipulation. ISME J 13:921–936

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rowan R, Knowlton N, Baker AC, Jara J (1997) Landscape ecology of algal symbionts creates variation in episodes of coral bleaching. Nature 388:265–269

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Safaie A, Silbiger NJ, McClanahan TR, Pawlak G, Darshis DJ, Hench JL, Rogers JS, Williams GJ, Davis KA (2018) High frequency temperature variability reduces the risk of coral bleaching. Nat Commun 9:1671

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Selkoe KA, Gaggiotti OE, Treml EA, Wren JLK, Donovan MK, Toonen RJ, Hawaii Reef Connectivity C (2016) The DNA of coral reef biodiversity: predicting and protecting genetic diversity of reef assemblages. Proc Roy Soc B Biol Sci 283:20160354

    Google Scholar 

  • Siol M, Wright S, Barrett SCH (2010) The population genomics of plant adaptation. New Phytol 188:313–332

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stat M, Pochon X, Franklin EC, Bruno JF, Casey KS, Selig ER, Gates RD (2013) The distribution of the thermally tolerant symbiont lineage (Symbiodinium clade D) in corals from Hawai’i: correlations with host and the history of ocean thermal stress. Ecol Evol 3:1317–1329

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson DM, van Woesik R (2009) Corals escape bleaching in regions that recently and historically experienced frequent thermal stress. Proc Roy Soc B Biol Sci 276:2893–2901

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • van Woesik R, Houk P, Isechal AL, Idechong JW, Victor S, Golbuu Y (2012) Climate-change refugia in the sheltered bays of Palau: analogs of future reefs. Ecol Evol 2:2474–2484

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Vargas-Angel B, Huntington B, Brainard RE, Venegas R, Oliver T, Barkley H, Cohen A (2019) El Nino-associated catastrophic coral mortality at Jarvis Island, central equatorial Pacific. Coral Reefs 38:731–741

    Google Scholar 

  • Wall CB, Ritson-Williams R, Pope BN, Gates RD (2019) Spatial variation in the biochemical and isotopic composition of corals during bleaching and recovery. Limnol Oceanogr 64:2011–2028

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler M, Seneca FO, Yum LK, Palumbi SR, Voolstra CR (2017) Bacterial community dynamics are linked to patterns of coral heat tolerance. Nat Comm 8:14213

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Laura Nunez-Pons, Chris Wall, Josh Levy, Ross Cunning, Drew Fant and Taylor Whitman for their extensive help with the field monitoring. Thank you to my committee members, Amy Moran, Robert Toonen, David Carlon and Philip Williams and two anonymous reviewers for their extensive reading and comments on this dissertation chapter. This is contribution number 1805 of the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology.

Funding

The Watson T. Yoshimoto and Alison Kay Fellowship from the University of Hawaii to RRW partially funded this research, and the Graduate Student Organization provided funding for RRW to present this data at the SICB meeting in 2016. RRW was funded by a STAR Fellowship Assistance Agreement# FP917660 awarded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It has not been formally reviewed by EPA. The views expressed in this manuscript are solely those of the authors, and EPA does not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this publication.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Raphael Ritson-Williams

    Present address: Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Geology, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Dr, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, PO Box 1346, Kāne‘ohe, HI, 94622, USA

    Raphael Ritson-Williams & Ruth D. Gates

Authors
  1. Raphael Ritson-Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ruth D. Gates
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raphael Ritson-Williams.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Topic Editor Emma Camp

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Figure S1

Temperature regime at three reefs in Kāne‘ohe Bay from October 2014 to December 2015. Thick lines are rolling weekly means, and thin lines represent individual daily means. Reef 44 is in the northern section of Kāne‘ohe Bay and is represented by the green line, reef 25 is in the middle of the bay and is represented by the purple line and the reef at HIMB is in the southern section of the bay and is represented in gray. All temperatures were collected with a HOBO pendent logger that was held at a depth of 2 meters. There was a statistical difference in temperature among the reefs with a mean of 26.0 °C for the reef at HIMB which was less than the mean of 26.1 °C at reef 44 (p = 0.004) and 26.1 °C at reef 25 (p = 0.001) (PDF 17 kb)

Figure S2

Light regime at three reefs in Kāne‘ohe Bay from October 2014 to December 2015. Lines represent the mean daily light integrals, and there was a significant difference in the light environment (p < 0.001), with reef 25 having the lowest light levels. Line colors and reefs are the same as described in Figure S1 (PDF 15 kb)

Figure S3

Sediment regime at three reefs in Kāne‘ohe Bay from October 2014 to December 2015. There was no significant difference in the rate of sedimentation among the reefs (p = 0.064). Line colors and reefs are the same as described in Figure S1 (PDF 5 kb)

Figure S4

Inorganic nutrient concentrations at three reefs in Kāne‘ohe Bay from October 2014 to January 2016. A. The concentration of phosphorus. B. The concentration of nitrate + nitrite. C. The concentration of ammonia. D. The concentration of silicate. There were significant differences in the concentrations of nutrients among the reefs for phosphorus (p = 0.001), nitrate and nitrite (p < 0.001), ammonia (p = 0.08), but no differences for silicate (p = 0.183). Line colors and reefs are the same as described in Figure S1 (PDF 9 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ritson-Williams, R., Gates, R.D. Coral community resilience to successive years of bleaching in Kāne‘ohe Bay, Hawai‘i. Coral Reefs 39, 757–769 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-01944-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-01944-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation