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dc.rights.licenseCC-BY-NC-ND
dc.contributor.advisorStaal, A.
dc.contributor.authorNemirovski, E.
dc.date.accessioned2020-10-05T18:00:22Z
dc.date.available2020-10-05T18:00:22Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.identifier.urihttps://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/37848
dc.description.abstractThe future of coral reefs is looking bleak. Global warming is causing there to be more frequent and severe coral bleaching events. There are, however, thriving corals that are flourishing in extreme environments. These so-called “super” corals have for instance been able to adapt to extremely high temperatures and will therefore, be less likely to bleach due to the effects of global warming. The increasing threat of global warming should be regarded as a call to action to explore new proactive reef management options, such as assisted colonization. This thesis aims to give an overview of areas in which assisted colonization of naturally resilient coral species occurring in thermally extreme environments will be most suitable. This aim was accomplished by first of all, discerning coral reef ‘hotspots’ that will be subjected to a prolonged increase in SST in the upcoming decades using climate model output. Thereafter, coral species that are able to thrive in thermally extreme environments were identified and an overview was made of their spatial distributions and the environmental conditions in which they occur. At last, maps of the hotspots were compared with maps of the spatial distributions of the naturally resilient corals in ArcGIS. The Red Sea, east coast of Africa, Madagascar, Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia are identified as suitable areas for assisted colonization. What these areas have in common is that they are mostly situated in developing regions. This means that multi-stakeholder partnerships need to be established to implement assisted colonization in these areas. Stylophora pistillata and Pocillopora damicornis are identified as suitable coral species to translocate, as they have the highest interaction rate with zooxanthellae of any known coral species. Furthermore, these species are frequently mentioned in literature as corals that are able to withstand high thermal stress and show less suffering as a result of bleaching. Despite the limitations of this research, it is nonetheless important to do additional research in this field of study, as immediate action is necessary to impede extinctions caused by climate change.
dc.description.sponsorshipUtrecht University
dc.format.extent1024296
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.titleThe future of coral reefs is looking bleak: Potential areas where assisted colonization of naturally resilient coral species would be most suitable
dc.type.contentBachelor Thesis
dc.rights.accessrightsOpen Access
dc.subject.keywordscoral bleaching, hotspots, super-corals, assisted colonization, coral reef resilience
dc.subject.courseuuLiberal Arts and Sciences


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