The peculiar shallow-water reefs of the Tropical Southwestern Atlantic Ocean have thrived in conditions considered suboptimal (e.g., moderate turbidity, higher level of nutrients, and resuspension of sediments) under the optics of classical coral reefs. Recently, these marginal reefs have been hypothesized to provide climate-change refugia from natural and anthropogenic impacts; yet with little empirical evidence. Therefore, in this article we discuss the known effects of multiple pressures on the Brazilian reefs. A wide evaluation of the peer reviewed literature reported that bleaching events affected 26 species of scleractinians, hydrocorals, octocorals, and zoanthids in turbidzone reefs over the last 26 years (1994–2020) in the Tropical SW Atlantic Brazil. Between 1994 and 2018 no species suffered post-bleaching mass mortality. However, the recent and intense heatwaves of 2019 and 2020 caused higher mortality rates in several key foundation corals (e.g., Millepora alcicornis, Millepora braziliensis, and Mussismilia harttii) showing that the SW Atlantic reefs are not long-term protected and universal refuges
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