Refuges for Corals

Depth-dependent mortality of reef corals following a severe bleaching event: implications for thermal refuges and population recovery

Coral bleaching caused by rising sea temperature is a primary cause of coral reef degradation. However, bleaching patterns often show significant spatial variability, therefore identifying locations where local conditions may provide thermal refuges is a high conservation priority. Coral bleaching mortality often diminishes with increasing depth, but clear depth zonation of coral communities an...

Isolated Refuges for Surviving Global Catastrophes

A variety of global catastrophes threaten the survival of human civilization. For many of these catastrophes, isolated refuges could keep some people alive and enable them to rebuild civilization in the post-catastrophe world. This paper examines the potential importance of refuges and what it would take to make them succeed. The successful refuge will have a variety of qualities, including iso...

A Fatal Switch for Corals?

In the late summer of 2005, abnormally warm ocean temperatures led to the most severe coral bleaching event ever documented in the northeast Caribbean. Algae living in symbiotic harmony with their animal hosts were expelled, leaving great expanses of white, or so-called bleached, coral reef. In the 12 months following these high temperatures, disease incidence on corals rose sharply. Within two...

Turkish graveyards as refuges for orchids against tuber harvest

Harvest of orchid tubers for salep production is widespread in southwestern Asia and the Balkans and constitutes a major conservation risk for wild orchid populations. Synanthropic habitats, such as graveyards, are important refuges for orchids and other organisms and could offer protection from salep harvesting because of their special cultural role. However, little is known about the occurren...

Golf Courses as Refuges for Freshwater Turtles in Urban Landscapes