Explores emerging monitoring strategies and presents adaptive management techniques to anticipate and mitigate coral bleaching, with emphasis upon identification and promotion of resilience in coral reef ecosystems. Includes coverage of strategic use of marine protected areas.

Provides synthesis of current scientific knowledge on coral reef resilience and resistance to bleaching, and highlights resilience and resistance factors and some knowledge gaps. Discusses tools and strategies to enhance resilience, including the use of well-designed networks of marine protected areas and integrated coastal management.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Volume 61. The effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and related climate change on shallow coral reefs are gaining considerable attention for scientific and economic reasons worldwide. Although increased scientific research has improved our understanding of the response of coral reefs to climate change, we still lack key information that can help guide reef management. Research and monitoring of coral reef ecosystems over the past few decades have documented two major threats related to increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2: (1) increased sea surface temperatures and (2) increased seawater acidity (lower pH). Higher atmospheric CO2 levels have resulted in rising sea surface temperatures and proven to be an acute threat to corals and other reef-dwelling organisms. Short periods (days) of elevated sea surface temperatures by as little as 1–2°C above the normal maximum temperature has led to more frequent and more widespread episodes of coral bleaching-the expulsion of symbiotic algae. A more chronic consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2 is the lowering of pH of surface waters, which affects the rate at which corals and other reef organisms secrete and build their calcium carbonate skeletons. Average pH of the surface ocean has already decreased by an estimated 0.1 unit since preindustrial times, and will continue to decline in concert with rising atmospheric CO2. These climate-related Stressors combined with other direct anthropogenic assaults, such as overfishing and pollution, weaken reef organisms and increase their susceptibility to disease.

Coral reefs are an important tourism resource for many coastal and island destinations and generate a range of benefits to their local communities, including as a food source, income from tourism, employment and recreational opportunities. However, coral reefs are under increasing threat from climate change and related impacts such as coral bleaching and ocean acidification. Other anthropogenic stresses include over-fishing, anchor damage, coastal development, agricultural run-off, sedimentation and coral mining. This book adopts a multidisciplinary approach to review these issues as they relate to the sustainable management of coral reef tourism destinations. It incorporates coral reef science, management, conservation and tourism perspectives and takes a global perspective of coral reef tourism issues covering many of the world’s most significant coral reef destinations. These include the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef in Australia, the Red Sea, Pacific Islands, South East Asia, the Maldives, the Caribbean islands, Florida Keys and Brazil. Specific issues addressed include climate change, pollution threats, fishing, island tourism, scuba diving, marine wildlife, governance, sustainability, conservation and community resilience. The book also issues a call for more thoughtful development of coral reef experiences where the ecological needs of coral reefs are placed ahead of the economic desires of the tourism industry.