CAPE CORAL, Fla. — If you have been to Fort Myers Beach lately, you know that the water is already around 90 degrees. It's usually about 88 degrees this time of year.
It's not just warm here in Lee County but all along the Gulf Coast, and the Florida Keys, where some buoys have recorded water temperatures in the mid-90s. This is not only a concern for tropical development later this summer, but also its effect on our critical coral reefs.
“We are all bracing for a rough summer,” said Dr. Jason Spadaro, Manager of the Coral Reef Restoration Research Program at MOTE Marine Lab in Sarasota.
Coral reefs in Florida provide critical habitats for hundreds of different species. All the world’s coral reefs would fit in the state of Colorado and are home to 30% of ocean species. Unfortunately, those reefs are under threat from bleaching due to the warming ocean.
“A bleaching event would be really bad,” said Dr. Melissa May, a Marine Biology Professor at FGCU Water School. “Corals are very slow growing. Even the fastest growing corals only grow a couple of inches per year.”
But what is coral bleaching? Coral is very sensitive to temperature change. Even a change of 2 to 3 degrees can stress the coral. After several days of this, the coral ejects the algae that give it its color, revealing its white skeleton through its clear body. Also, the loss of algae could lead to death from starvation due to the lack of nutrients the algae provides the coral.
“It’s incredibly traumatic and it’s an incredibly stressful event even if the corals do survive, they tend to have knock-on effects,” said Dr. Spadaro.
Dr. Spadaro said we see bleaching events almost every year now.
“While bleaching has become an almost annual occurrence, seasonal issue, here on Florida’s coral reef, the temperatures we are seeing this year are particularly concerning and we are all bracing for a worse-than-usual bleaching event,” said Dr. Spadaro.
But why is it so bad this year? It comes down to weaker Trade Winds, meaning less up-welling in the Atlantic and warmer global temperatures related to climate change. Unfortunately, Dr. May doesn’t see that improving anytime soon.
“Having it get this warm this early means it is probably going to get even warmer as we move into August and September,” said Dr. May.
The warmer temperatures over the next few months have NOAA Reef Watch predicting a 90% probability of coral beaching conditions not only worsening in the Keys but expanding to Southwest Florida by early August and continuing into September.
“When temperatures get about 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit above average is when they go into first alert, and if it gets warm then that they go into second alert,” said Dr. May. “So, if those temperatures persist for 5 days up to 2 weeks, that will start to cause excessive stress that will lead to bleaching.”
Dr. Spadaro said the research MOTE doing is part of their restoration efforts on why curtain corals are bleaching quicker than others.
“How do we capitalize on those either genetic or trait-based aspects of that genotype or coral or on the environmental conditions right around it?” said Dr. Spadaro.
With the warm water, MOTE is pausing restoration efforts of planting new corals in Keys until late into the Fall.
