Coral reefs in the South China Sea: Their response to and records on past environmental changes

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	Coral reefs in the South China Sea: Their response to and records on past environmental changes
	Yu, KF
刊名	SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES
	2012
卷号	55 期号:8 页码:1217-1229
关键词	coral reefs ecology environment climate Holocene South China Sea
ISSN号	1674-7313
通讯作者	kefuyu@scsio.ac.cn
中文摘要	This paper reviews both the recent and longer-term (Holocene) ecological history of coral reefs in the South China Sea (SCS). (1) Local ecological monitoring since the 1960s shows that the coral reefs in the South China Sea have declined dramatically, reflecting the rapid decrease of living coral cover and the great loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae. Collectively, this has led to a significant decrease of annual CaCO3 production. Heavy anthropogenic activities and global warming are recognized as major triggers of the observed coral reef degradation. Observations show that the modern coral reefs in the SCS are a source of atmospheric CO2 in summer. (2) Coral reefs of the SCS have been widely used to reveal longer-term environmental variations, including Holocene high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) and abrupt climate events, millennial-scale El Nio variations, millennial- and centennial-scale sea level oscillations, strong and cyclic storm activities, East Asian monsoon intensities, variation in seawater pH, and recent seawater pollution. (3) Coral reefs of the southern SCS have experienced repeated episodes of bleaching over the last 200 years due to high SST and intense El Nio events; coral reefs of the northern SCS suffered high levels of mortality during several abrupt winter cold-water bleaching events during the middle Holocene warm period. On average, recovery after the middle Holocene cold-bleaching took 20-30 years; recovery following other middle Holocene environmental stresses took approximately 10-20 years. Such findings have significantly contributed to the understanding of the present ecological pressures faced by the coral reefs in the SCS, the histories of Holocene climate/environment changes, and the long-term models of coral reef responses to various past environmental changes.
学科主题	Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
语种	英语
WOS记录号	WOS:000307255500001
公开日期	2013-08-28
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://ir.scsio.ac.cn/handle/344004/10323]
专题	南海海洋研究所_中科院边缘海地质重点实验室
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Yu, KF. Coral reefs in the South China Sea: Their response to and records on past environmental changes[J]. SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES,2012,55(8):1217-1229.
APA	Yu, KF.(2012).Coral reefs in the South China Sea: Their response to and records on past environmental changes.SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES,55(8),1217-1229.
MLA	Yu, KF."Coral reefs in the South China Sea: Their response to and records on past environmental changes".SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES 55.8(2012):1217-1229.