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Climate Change-Induced Coral Bleaching in Malvan Marine Sanctuary, Maharashtra, India


Affiliations
1 Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute, 44-Beach Road, Tuticorin 628 001, India
2 UNDP Sindhudurg Project and Mancrove Cell, Mumbai 400 051, India
3 Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai 400 001, India
 

Malvan Marine Sanctuary (MMS), Maharashtra, India is rich in coral reefs and the associated resources, which provide livelihood for the people involved in fishing and tourism. The elevated sea-surface temperature triggered by climate change had caused the coral reefs around the world to undergo severe bleaching during 2014–2016. Scientists have declared this as the third global coral bleaching event. Two underwater surveys during December 2015 and May 2016 were conducted in MMS to assess the intensity and trend of coral bleaching. A high prevalence of coral bleaching, i.e. 70.93% (SD = 4.53) was recorded inside MMS during December 2015, with a mortality of about 8.38% (SD = 0.91). After a lapse of six months, corals were found to recover. This is borne out by the reduction in the bleaching prevalence to 6.77 ± 0.12% during May 2016. Climate change being a global issue, reduction in the local stressors such as fishing and tourism is highly recommended in order to allow the corals to recover and enable sustainable utilization of coral reef resources around MMS.

Keywords

Climate Change, Coral Bleaching, Mortality, Marine Sanctuary, Sea Surface Temperature.
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  • Climate Change-Induced Coral Bleaching in Malvan Marine Sanctuary, Maharashtra, India

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Authors

K. Diraviya Raj
Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute, 44-Beach Road, Tuticorin 628 001, India
G. Mathews
Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute, 44-Beach Road, Tuticorin 628 001, India
M. Selva Bharath
Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute, 44-Beach Road, Tuticorin 628 001, India
Rohit D. Sawant
UNDP Sindhudurg Project and Mancrove Cell, Mumbai 400 051, India
Vishal Bhave
Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai 400 001, India
Deepak Apte
Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai 400 001, India
N. Vasudevan
UNDP Sindhudurg Project and Mancrove Cell, Mumbai 400 051, India
J. K. Patterson Edward
Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute, 44-Beach Road, Tuticorin 628 001, India

Abstract


Malvan Marine Sanctuary (MMS), Maharashtra, India is rich in coral reefs and the associated resources, which provide livelihood for the people involved in fishing and tourism. The elevated sea-surface temperature triggered by climate change had caused the coral reefs around the world to undergo severe bleaching during 2014–2016. Scientists have declared this as the third global coral bleaching event. Two underwater surveys during December 2015 and May 2016 were conducted in MMS to assess the intensity and trend of coral bleaching. A high prevalence of coral bleaching, i.e. 70.93% (SD = 4.53) was recorded inside MMS during December 2015, with a mortality of about 8.38% (SD = 0.91). After a lapse of six months, corals were found to recover. This is borne out by the reduction in the bleaching prevalence to 6.77 ± 0.12% during May 2016. Climate change being a global issue, reduction in the local stressors such as fishing and tourism is highly recommended in order to allow the corals to recover and enable sustainable utilization of coral reef resources around MMS.

Keywords


Climate Change, Coral Bleaching, Mortality, Marine Sanctuary, Sea Surface Temperature.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv114%2Fi02%2F384-387