Topic
Periods of abnormally warm sea surface temperature and their ecological and human consequences.
El Niño now building in the Pacific is on track to be the strongest recorded, with central Pacific seas forecast up to 3.6C above normal this summer. Past strong events point to cooler New Zealand seas, though the same record includes a long, damaging marine heatwave.
Reality
Nova Southeastern researchers who cut light by 60% over Florida Keys brain corals in 2024 saw them bleach less than 20 unshaded controls. The summer killed no coral in either group, so the result supports shading as short-term protection for a few chosen colonies.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishersReality
Curtin University researchers sampled 20 Ningaloo Reef colonies and found two Porites species preparing to spawn in the reef's early fall mass spawning. That gives restoration crews a collection date, though proving reefs reproduce after heat waves also needs egg and sperm counts.
Reality
Corals have no adaptive immune system and the KAUST team doubted priming would work. Fragments dosed with chemically killed Vibrio coralliilyticus still held up better when heat and live infection arrived together.
Reality
The authors' example is a Red Sea seagrass that reached dominance in Caribbean shallows Hurricane Maria had scoured. Their numbers, covering 30 species, show climate change rarely promoting an invader's spread.
Reality
A Penn State and UNC team matched sea surface temperatures to child health records from 36 low- and middle-income countries. The association came out strongest for stunting, the outcome that takes years to build.
Reality