depressing article in ScienceAdviser 2025/10/24

[Peter Houde]

Farewell, Acropora​

A dying thicket of staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) in Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida, on 11 September 2023. Shayle Matsud/Shedd Aquarium​

Researchers have declared southern Florida’s Acropora coral colonies functionally extinct. The death knell for two reef-building species, elkhorn and staghorn, was the 2023 marine heatwave that brought temperatures above 31°C for almost 6 weeks. The event was the ninth mass coral mortality event for the region since 1987. “This ecosystem is forever transformed,” lead author Ross Cunning told Nature. Conservation for these species “needs to fundamentally change.” Acropora have made Florida and the Caribbean their home for the past 250,000 to 500,000 years. During the heatwave, they bleached in 98% to 100% of their southern Florida range, a process whereby the corals lose the symbiotic algae that feed them and give them color. Previously, scientists had attempted to reintroduce the corals in areas where they had declined. But with the reintroduced organisms now dead, the authors say that efforts must turn to breeding more heat-resistant variants altogether. Luckily, Acropora is still far from global extinction. The scraggly organisms continue to survive in tanks used to study the species for conservation science. And in Florida’s northern waters, more than 60% of the corals survived.​

 

[Rocks reef]

That is really depressing!