澳洲大堡礁有“海底天堂”的美誉，红海岸礁让人惊讶于沿岸不毛之地与它生命活力的反差，无疑，珊瑚礁是海洋最绚烂多彩的部分，同时，它们还是价值很高的自然资源，相当于陆地上的热带雨林。但是，珊瑚的生仔正受到来自各方向的威胁，这些伸向珊瑚的魔爪有哪些呢？它们对美丽而脆弱的“海底花园”造成了什么样的破坏？让我们一起潜入热带海洋去看看。

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch (CRW) program has developed a daily global 5-km product suite based on satellite observations to monitor thermal stress on coral reefs. These products fulfill requests from coral reef managers and researchers for higher resolution products by taking advantage of new satellites, sensors and algorithms. Improvements of the 5-km products over CRW’s heritage global 50-km products are derived from: (1) the higher resolution and greater data density of NOAA’s next-generation operational daily global 5-km geo-polar blended sea surface temperature (SST) analysis; and (2) implementation of a new SST climatology derived from the Pathfinder SST climate data record. The new products increase near-shore coverage and now allow direct monitoring of 95% of coral reefs and significantly reduce data gaps caused by cloud cover. The 5-km product suite includes SST Anomaly, Coral Bleaching HotSpots, Degree Heating Weeks and Bleaching Alert Area, matching existing CRW products. When compared with the 50-km products and in situ bleaching observations for 2013–2014, the 5-km products identified known thermal stress events and matched bleaching observations. These near reef-scale products significantly advance the ability of coral reef researchers and managers to monitor coral thermal stress in near-real-time.

珊瑚礁白化是由于珊瑚失去体内共生的虫黄藻和（或）共生的虫黄藻失去体内色素而导致五彩缤纷的珊瑚礁变白的生态现象。近年来，频繁发生的珊瑚礁白化导致了珊瑚礁生态系统严重退化，并已经影响到全球珊瑚礁生态系统的平衡，受到了人们的高度重视。研究认为：（1）大范围珊瑚礁白化主要是全球环境变化引起的，尤其是全球变暖和紫外辐射增强；（2）导致珊瑚礁白化的机制主要在于细胞机制和光抑制机制；（3）珊瑚礁白化后的恢复与白化程度有关，大范围白化的珊瑚礁完全恢复需要几年到几十年；（4）珊瑚礁白化的后果在于降低珊瑚繁殖能力、减缓珊瑚礁生长、改变礁栖生物的群落结构，导致大面积珊瑚死亡和改变珊瑚礁生态类型，如变为海藻型等；(5) 与珊瑚共生的D系群虫黄藻更适应高温环境，珊瑚礁有可能通过D系群逐渐取代C系群的方式适应全球环境变化。

珊瑚礁白化是由于珊瑚失去体内共生的虫黄藻或者共生的虫黄藻失去体内色素而导致五彩缤纷的珊瑚礁变白的现象，严重的白化可以带来珊瑚礁的死亡。国内外研究表明海水温度升高和珊瑚礁白化关系最为紧密。卫星遥感能够提供大范围、同步与连续的海洋数据，如海水表层温度和海色数据，从而能够及时监测和预测珊瑚礁的白化。基于AVHRR （Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer）,NOAA（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration，US）开发了全球监测珊瑚礁白化的方法，热点(HotSpot)和周热度(DHW)两种主要指数。目前，我国珊瑚礁白化现象的监测和研究明显滞后于国际动态，迫切需要发展和利用卫星遥感的方法监测南海珊瑚礁白化状况。

Early in 2002, satellites of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) detected anomalously high sea surface temperatures (SST) developing in the western Coral Sea, midway along Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR). This was the beginning of what was to become the most significant GBR coral bleaching event on record [Wilkinson, 2002]. During this time, NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) provided satellite data as part of ongoing collaborative work on coral reef health with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). These data proved invaluable to AIMS and GBRMPA as they monitored and assessed the development and evolution of SSTs throughout the austral summer, enabling them to keep stakeholders, government, and the general public informed and up to date.

Abstract BACKGROUND: The rising temperature of the world's oceans has become a major threat to coral reefs globally as the severity and frequency of mass coral bleaching and mortality events increase. In 2005, high ocean temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean resulted in the most severe bleaching event ever recorded in the basin. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Satellite-based tools provided warnings for coral reef managers and scientists, guiding both the timing and location of researchers' field observations as anomalously warm conditions developed and spread across the greater Caribbean region from June to October 2005. Field surveys of bleaching and mortality exceeded prior efforts in detail and extent, and provided a new standard for documenting the effects of bleaching and for testing nowcast and forecast products. Collaborators from 22 countries undertook the most comprehensive documentation of basin-scale bleaching to date and found that over 80% of corals bleached and over 40% died at many sites. The most severe bleaching coincided with waters nearest a western Atlantic warm pool that was centered off the northern end of the Lesser Antilles. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Thermal stress during the 2005 event exceeded any observed from the Caribbean in the prior 20 years, and regionally-averaged temperatures were the warmest in over 150 years. Comparison of satellite data against field surveys demonstrated a significant predictive relationship between accumulated heat stress (measured using NOAA Coral Reef Watch's Degree Heating Weeks) and bleaching intensity. This severe, widespread bleaching and mortality will undoubtedly have long-term consequences for reef ecosystems and suggests a troubled future for tropical marine ecosystems under a warming climate.

Since 1982, coral reefs worldwide have been subjected to an increased frequency of the phenomenon known as coral bleaching. Bleaching involves the dramatic loss of pigmented, single-celled endosymbiotic algae that live within the gastrodermal cells of a coral host that depends on this relationship for survival. Prior to the 1980s, and as early as the 1920s when coral reef research intensified, localized bleaching events were reported and attributed to factors such as extremely low tides, hurricane damage, torrential rainstorms, freshwater runoff near reefs, or toxic algal blooms [Glynn, 1993]. However, these early occurrences have recently been overshadowed by geographically larger and more frequent bleaching events whose impact has expanded to regional and global proportions.

Large-scale coral bleaching has happenedrepeatedly in the Pacific and Indianoceans and the Caribbean since1982. Previously it was observed onlyon a small scale (Williams and Bunkley-Williams 1990;Jokiel & Coles 1990;Glynn 1988, 1991; Goreau et al. 1993;Goreau & Hayes 1994, 1995). The1998 bleaching event was globally themost extensive such event recordedexcept in the Caribbean and CentralPacific where a comparison of year-byyeartemperature and bleaching mapsshow that it was comparable with thelargest previous events (T.G. et al., unpublisheddata). Global analyses ofcoral bleaching are rare, but critical toan understanding of the widespreadecological effect of bleaching events.

珊瑚白化是指珊瑚失去共生藻或它们的色素或同时失去共生藻和色素而变白的现象. 关于海水养殖能否引起珊瑚白化, 特别是什么成分对珊瑚影响最大, 以及缺氧对珊瑚的影响, 至今很少有人研 究. 通过形态观察和显微镜计数研究了温度、缺氧、氨氮和硝氮对鹿角、钮扣、茉莉石3种珊瑚白化的影响. 结果表明, 随着温度的升高和溶氧的降低, 3种珊瑚释放的共生藻数目均逐渐增多, 白化程度加重. 另外, 只要0.001 mmol/L的氨态氮或硝态氮就能使3种珊瑚共生藻的释放明显增多, 随着其浓度的进一步增大, 除鹿角珊瑚外, 其他2种珊瑚共生藻的释放并没有显著增加. 而且, 不同宿主对珊瑚白化也有一定的影响.

Abstract Coral bleaching involves the loss of symbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae) from reef corals and other cnidarians and may be a stress response of the host, algae or both. To determine the role of zooxanthellae in the bleaching process, aposymbiotic sea anemones from Bermuda (Aiptasia pallida) were infected with symbionts from other sea anemones (Aiptasia pallida from Florida, Bartholomea annulata and Condylactis gigantea). The expulsion of algae was measured during 24-h incubations at 25, 32 and 34 degrees C. Photosynthetic rates of freshly isolated zooxanthellae were also measured at these temperatures. The C. gigantea (Cg) symbionts were expelled in higher numbers than the other algae at 32 degrees C. Photosynthesis by the Cg algae was completely inhibited at this temperature, in contrast to the other symbionts. At 34 degrees all of the symbionts had increased expulsion rates, and at this temperature only the symbionts from Florida A. pallida exhibited any photosynthesis. These results provide the first evidence that the differential release of symbionts from the same host species is related to decreased photosynthesis at elevated temperatures, and support other findings suggesting that zooxanthellae are directly affected by elevated temperatures during bleaching events.

Abstract Elevated temperature (28-34 degrees C) has been hypothesized as the primary cause of the loss of algal endosymbionts in coral reef-associated invertebrates, a phenomenon observed on a world-wide scale over the last decade. In past studies of this "bleaching" phenomenon, there has been an underlying assumption that temperature adversely affects the animal hosts, the algae thereby being relegated to a more passive role. Because photosynthesis is a sensitive indicator of thermal stress in plants and has a central role in the nutrition of symbiotic invertebrates, we have tested the hypothesis that elevated temperature adversely affects photosynthesis in the symbiotic dinoflagellate Symbiodinium microadriaticum. The results, based on analyses of light-mediated O2 evolution and in vivo fluorescence, indicate that photosynthesis is impaired at temperatures above 30 degrees C and ceases completely at 34-36 degrees C. These observations are discussed in the context of possible mechanisms that may function in the disassociation of algal-invertebrate symbioses in response to elevated temperature.

Coral species in a similar habitat often show different bleaching susceptibilities. It is not understood which partner of coral–zooxanthellae complexes is responsible for differential stress susceptibility. Stress susceptibilities of in hospite and isolated zooxanthellae from five species of corals collected from shallow water in Okinawa were compared. To estimate stress susceptibility, we measured the maximum quantum yields ( F v / F m ) of in hospite and isolated zooxanthellae after 3-h exposure to either 28 or 34 °C at various light intensities and their recovery after 12 h under dim light at 26 °C. Significant reduction in photochemical efficiency ( F v / F m ) of photosystem II (PSII) was observed in in hospite zooxanthellae exposed to high light intensity (1000 μmol quanta m 612 s 611 ), while PSII activity of isolated zooxanthellae decreased significantly even at a lower light intensity (70 μmol quanta m 612 s 611 ). The recovery of the PSII activity after 12 h was incomplete in both in hospite and isolated zooxanthellae, indicating the presence of chronic photoinhibition. The stress susceptibility of isolated zooxanthellae was more variable among species than in hospite zooxanthellae. The order of stress susceptibility among the five coral species was different between in hospite and isolated zooxanthellae. The present results suggest that the host plays a significant role in determining bleaching susceptibility of corals, though zooxanthellae from different host have different stress susceptibilities.

Abstract Coral bleaching has been defined as a general phenomenon, whereby reef corals turn visibly pale because of the loss of their symbiotic dinoflagellates and/or algal pigments during periods of exposure to elevated seawater temperatures. During the summer of 1997, seawater temperatures in the Florida Keys remained at or above 30 degrees C for more than 6 weeks, and extensive coral bleaching was observed. Bleached colonies of the dominant Caribbean reef-building species, Montastrea faveolata and Montastrea franksi, were sampled over a depth gradient from 1 to 17 m during this period of elevated temperature and contained lower densities of symbiotic dinoflagellates in deeper corals than seen in previous "nonbleaching" years. Fluorescence analysis by pulse-amplitude modulation fluorometry revealed severe damage to photosystem II (PSII) in remaining symbionts within the corals, with greater damage indicated at deeper depths. Dinoflagellates with the greatest loss in PSII activity also showed a significant decline in the D1 reaction center protein of PSII, as measured by immunoblot analysis. Laboratory experiments on the temperature-sensitive species Montastrea annularis, as well as temperature-sensitive and temperature-tolerant cultured symbiotic dinoflagellates, confirmed the temperature-dependent loss of PSII activity and concomitant decrease in D1 reaction center protein seen in symbionts collected from corals naturally bleached on the reef. In addition, variation in PSII repair was detected, indicating that perturbation of PSII protein turnover rates during photoinhibition at elevated temperatures underlies the physiological collapse of symbionts in corals susceptible to heat-induced bleaching.

Cnidarians which contain symbiotic algae are constantly faced with the challenges of a changing photic regime and a hyperoxic environment. Zooxanthellae ( Symbiodinium sp.) from the sea anemone Aiptasia pallida (Verrill), collected and cultured at Bermuda Biological Station in 1986, exhibit a suite of compensatory responses to changes in irradiance, ultraviolet radiation (UV), and to the toxicity resulting from their interaction with photosynthetically produced oxygen. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase inactivate superoxide radicals (O 2 - ) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), which are mediators of oxygen toxicity, show an increase in specific activity with irradiance and in response to UV, both in cultured zooxanthellae (CZ) and freshly isolated zooxanthellae (FIZ) from acclimated anemones. CZ and FIZ exposed to environmentally realistic UV levels show a 30 to 40% increase in SOD activities compared with zooxanthellae exposed to similar irradiances without UV. CZ consistently show higher activities of both SOD and catalase compared to FIZ. Both CZ and FIZ exhibit changes in chlorophyll content and in the relationship between photosynthesis and irradiance which suggest photoadaptive changes in CO 2 -fixing enzymes, the photosynthetic-electron transport system, or in photosynthetic unit size (PSU). UV has a greater effect on the photosynthetic capacity ( P max ) of FIZ when compared to CZ acclimated at an equivalent irradiance with or without a UV component. UV also enhances the photoinhibition observed at high irradiance in both CZ and FIZ. Differences in enzyme activity between CZ and FIZ suggest an important role for the host in the protection of zooxanthellae against the direct effects of environmentally realistic UV while the photosynthetic performance of zooxanthellae in situ may not be as well protected.

Experimental studies of the upper thermal limits of corals from Orpheus Island, an inshore reef in the central Great Barrier Reef, show that Acropora formosa has a 5-day 50%-bleaching threshold of between 31 and 3265°C in summer, only 2 to 365°C higher than local mean summer temperatures (2965°C). Summer bleaching thresholds for Pocillopora damicornis and A. elseyi were 165°C higher (between 32 and 3365°C). The winter bleaching threshold of Pocillopora damicornis was 165°C lower than its summer threshold, indicating that seasonal acclimatisation may take place. This seasonal difference raises the possibility that at least some corals may be capable of short-term thermal acclimatisation. Neither P. damicornis nor A. elseyi showed habitat-specific (reef flat versus reef slope) differences in bleaching thresholds. Further, colonies of P. damicornis collected from sites 361km apart also showed no difference in bleaching threshold despite populations of this species responding differently at these two sites during a natural bleaching event. The bleaching thresholds determined in this study are best considered as the maximum tolerable temperatures for local populations of these species because they were determined in the absence of additional stressors (e.g. high light) which often co-occur during natural bleaching events. We consider the 5-day 50% bleaching thresholds determined in these experiments to be fair indicators of upper thermal limits, because >50% of a sample population died when allowed to recover in situ. We found a delay of up to a month in the bleaching response of corals following thermal stress, a result that has implications for identifying the timing of stressful conditions in natural bleaching events.