Wetterextreme und die Folgen für die tropischen Korallenriffe - am Beispiel des australischen Great Barrier Reef

Weather extremes and the consequences for tropical coral reefs - using the example of the Australian Great Barrier Reef :
Coral reefs are known to be highly sensitive to climate change. Here we review the rates of climate change, and its different forms of impacts on coral reefs and its associated organisms, using the well-studied Australian Great Barrier Reef as a case study. We demonstrate that of all climate change related factors, it is the intensification of weather events (namely marine heat waves, tropical storms and more extreme rainfall events), that contribute most to the climate related acute damage on reef ecosystems. In contrast, the cumulative effects of the more gradual climate changes (namely the increasing mean temperature and sea level and ocean acidification), together with other anthropogenic changes, significantly slow the recovery of reefs from the intensifying acute disturbances on the Great Barrier Reef.