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Coral Reefs

How these connect

Coral bleaching and what it relates to. Every line is an evidence-backed relation, and the arrangement is fixed — this address draws this picture, today and next year.

concerns — The 1998 event is the first occasion on which bleaching was recorded simultaneously across every major reef region rather than as a set of local events.affects — A bleached colony is starving rather than dead, and survives if the stress abates within weeks; prolonged bleaching kills it.caused_by — Mass bleaching events are triggered by sustained sea temperature above the local summer maximum, so a marine heatwave is the proximate agent of every one recorded.constrained_by — Marine heatwaves recurring at intervals shorter than the decade an assemblage needs to rebuild are the limit on reef persistence, rather than the severity of any single event.assesses — Degree Heating Weeks measures accumulated thermal stress relative to a site's own climatology and is the operational predictor of bleaching risk.assesses — The 2018 analysis measured the interval between severe bleaching events at one hundred reef locations worldwide and found the median had fallen to under six years.affects — Colonies dominated by the heat-tolerant symbiont lineage bleach at a threshold roughly a degree higher than colonies dominated by other lineages.Degree Heating Weeks (DHW)Degree Heating Weeks (DHW)The first global mass bleaching eventThe first global mass ble…The interval between severe bleaching events is measured, and it has collapsedThe interval between seve…Coral bleachingCoral bleachingMarine heatwaveMarine heatwaveSymbiont shuffling and thermal toleranceSymbiont shuffling and th…Reef-building corals (Scleractinia)Reef-building corals (Scl…
7 drawn · 9 reachable and not drawn · positions derived from object ids, never from a simulation
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Every relation drawn, in words7
  1. The first global mass bleaching event · concerns · Coral bleaching

    The 1998 event is the first occasion on which bleaching was recorded simultaneously across every major reef region rather than as a set of local events.

  2. Coral bleaching · affects · Reef-building corals (Scleractinia)

    A bleached colony is starving rather than dead, and survives if the stress abates within weeks; prolonged bleaching kills it.

  3. Coral bleaching · caused_by · Marine heatwave

    Mass bleaching events are triggered by sustained sea temperature above the local summer maximum, so a marine heatwave is the proximate agent of every one recorded.

  4. Reef-building corals (Scleractinia) · constrained_by · Marine heatwave

    Marine heatwaves recurring at intervals shorter than the decade an assemblage needs to rebuild are the limit on reef persistence, rather than the severity of any single event.

  5. Degree Heating Weeks (DHW) · assesses · Coral bleaching

    Degree Heating Weeks measures accumulated thermal stress relative to a site's own climatology and is the operational predictor of bleaching risk.

  6. The interval between severe bleaching events is measured, and it has collapsed · assesses · Coral bleaching

    The 2018 analysis measured the interval between severe bleaching events at one hundred reef locations worldwide and found the median had fallen to under six years.

  7. Symbiont shuffling and thermal tolerance · affects · Coral bleaching

    Colonies dominated by the heat-tolerant symbiont lineage bleach at a threshold roughly a degree higher than colonies dominated by other lineages.