Figure 1.
Contrasting coral bleaching patterns during 2010.
Extensive stands of bleached Acropora colonies from (A) Pulau Weh, north Sumatra, Indonesia where patterns in bleaching susceptibility were normal. Reversals in bleaching susceptibility gradients were observed in (B) Singapore and (C) Tioman Island, Malaysia, where healthy Acropora colonies were found adjacent to bleached encrusting, foliose and massive colonies: corals which are usually relatively resistant to bleaching. The inset map shows the three study locations.
Figure 2.
Comparison of bleaching and mortality indices among locations during 2010.
Graphs compare the bleaching and mortality indices (BMI) of 15 coral genera that had >5 colonies recorded during surveys at each location for (A) Pulau Weh, (B) Singapore and (C) Tioman Island in 2010. Data used to estimate BMI are from Table 2.
Table 1.
Results of Friedman test and Dunn's multiple comparisons of bleaching and mortality response within taxa and among locations.
Table 2.
Bleaching and mortality response of coral genera from three study locations.
Figure 3.
Comparison of sea temperatures and thermal stress during 1998 and 2010.
Weekly mean sea surface temperatures (°C) and maximum monthly mean (MMM) temperatures (top row) and thermal stress in degree heating weeks (DHW) (°C-weeks) above MMM in 1998 and 2010 (bottom row) for (A) Pulau Weh; (B) Singapore; and (C) Tioman Island. Blue lines are SST and DHW from 1998, red lines are from 2010 and the gray line is MMM. Values for maximum degree DHW > MMM in 1998 and 2010 are shown.
Figure 4.
Comparison of long-term thermal histories.
Monthly mean sea surface temperatures from January 1951 to December 2010 for (A) Pulau Weh; (B) Singapore and (C) Tioman Island. The linear regression is shown by the straight black line and the equation shows the average rate of temperature increase.