Page 30 - Science

INSIGHTS How can degraded coral
A dead coral skeleton is
colonized by sponges
and coralline algae.

ecosystems recover?

http://science.sciencemag.org/

PERSPECTIVES Downloaded from

on March 1, 2018
ECOLOGY
Seeking resilience in marine ecosystems

With recovery windows closing, how can reef corals resist climate change?

1,2
By Emily S. Darling and Isabelle M. Côté 3 management of tropical coral reefs, which to 15 years that even the fastest-growing cor-
are one of the ecosystems most vulnerable als need to bounce back from catastrophic
esilience is a popular narrative for to climate change. mortality (1). There has been some recovery
conservation and provides an op- The term “resilience” captures two dy- from recent bleaching events on reefs that
portunity to communicate optimism namic processes: the ability of ecosystems to are isolated (2) or deeper and more struc-
that ecosystems can recover and resist and absorb disturbance, and their abil- turally complex (3). Understanding more
rebound from disturbances. A resil- ity to recover. Recent observations suggest
R ience lens also reinforces the need that coral reef recovery is increasingly un- 1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University
for continued conservation investments, likely. The time windows for reefs to recover of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3B2, Canada. Marine Program, PHOTO: EMILY DARLING/WCS
2
even in degraded ecosystems. It is prob- from consecutive mass bleaching events have Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Boulevard,
3
Bronx, NY 10460, USA. Department of Biological Sciences,
ably for these reasons that resilience has shrunk from 25 to 30 years a few decades
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada.
become a conceptual cornerstone in the ago to just 6 years—far shorter than the 10 Email: edarling@wcs.org
986 2 MARCH 2018 • VOL 359 ISSUE 6379 sciencemag.org SCIENCE
Published by AAAS

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