Skip to main content
WCS
Menu
Library
Library Catalog
eJournals & eBooks
WCS Research
Archives
Research Use
Finding Aids
Digital Collections
WCS History
WCS Research
Research Publications
Science Data
Services for WCS Researchers
Archives Shop
Bronx Zoo
Department of Tropical Research
Browse By Product
About Us
FAQs
Intern or Volunteer
Staff
Donate
Search WCS.org
Search
search
Popular Search Terms
WCS History
Library and Archives
Library and Archives Menu
Library
Archives
WCS Research
Archives Shop
About Us
Donate
en
fr
Title
Modelling susceptibility of coral reefs to environmental stress using remote sensing data and GIS models
Author(s)
Maina, J.; Venus, V.; McClanahan, T.R.; Ateweberhan, M.
Published
2008
Publisher
Ecological Modelling
Published Version DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.10.033
Abstract
There is a need to develop methods and a decision support system to establish marine protected areas that harbour coral reefs that are resilient to climate change. This requires understanding patterns of coral's susceptibility to thermal stress and how coral communities will change with the environmental variables associated with climate change. This study combined surface currents, wind velocity, sea surface temperature (SST), UV radiation, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and chlorophyll-a concentration for the western Indian Ocean and known relationships with coral bleaching and mortality to derive predictor variables that correlate with thermal stress. SST variability, UV, maximum temperature and wind speed had the highest influence on susceptibility estimates. Two susceptibility models were developed using Spatial Principal Component Analysis (SPCA) and cosine amplitude-AHP methods and a fuzzy logic technique for integrating environmental variables into a measure of susceptibility. Susceptibility models identified regional gradients in environmental stress, with the north-western Indian Ocean and some central Indian Ocean Islands as high and the southern African coastline and islands east of Madagascar as low vulnerability regions. Half of the strictly no take zones in the region are situated in locations with medium to high susceptibility. Future studies using high-resolution data can better estimate the vulnerability of specific locations and the establishment of marine protected areas where coral reef diversity is more likely to persist through climate change. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Climate change; Decision support systems; Oceanography; Remote sensing; Thermal stress; Ultraviolet radiation; Environmental stress; Priority setting; Regional ecology; Sea surface temperature (SST); Geographic information systems; coral bleaching; coral reef; ecosystem resilience; marine park; mortality; photosynthetically active radiation; principal component analysis; protected area; remote sensing; sea surface temperature; species diversity; ultraviolet radiation; Africa; Indian Ocean; Indian Ocean (Northwest); Indian Ocean islands; Madagascar; Anthozoa; Ecological resilience; Marine protected area design; Priority setting
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the
WCS Library
to request.
Back
PUB10593