1. A novel paleo-bleaching proxy using boron isotopes and high-resolution laser ablation to reconstruct coral bleaching events.
- Author
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Dishon, G., Fisch, J., Horn, I., Kaczmarek, K., Bijma, J., Gruber, D. F., Nir, O., Popovich, Y., and Tchernov, D.
- Subjects
BORON isotopes ,HIGH resolution spectroscopy ,LASER ablation ,CORAL bleaching ,CORAL reefs & islands ,HABITATS ,MARINE ecology - Abstract
Coral reefs occupy only ~ 0.1% of the oceans habitat, but are the most biologically diverse marine ecosystem. In recent decades, coral reefs have experienced significant global declines due to a variety of causes, one of the major being widespread coral bleaching events. During bleaching the coral expels its symbiotic algae losing its main source of nutrition generally obtained through photosynthesis. While recent coral bleaching events have been extensively investigated, there is no scientific data on historical coral bleaching prior to 1979. In this study, we employ high-resolution femtosecond Laser Ablation Multiple Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS) to demonstrate a distinct biologically-induced decline of boron (B) isotopic composition (δ
11 B) as a result of coral bleaching. These findings and methodology offer a new use for a previously developed isotopic proxy to reconstruct paleocoral bleaching events. Based on a literature review of published δ11 B data and our recorded "vital effect" of coral bleaching on the δ11 11B signal, we also describe at least two possible coral bleaching events since the Last Glacial Maximum. The implementation of this bleaching proxy holds the potential of identifying occurrences of coral bleaching throughout the geological record. A deeper temporal view of coral bleaching will enable scientists to determine if it occurred in the past during times of environmental change and what outcome it may have had on coral population structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2015
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