Coral reef structural complexity loss exposes coastlines to waves

Coral reefs offer natural coastal protection by attenuating incoming waves. Here we combine unique coral disturbance-recovery observations with hydrodynamic models to quantify how structural complexity dissipates incoming wave energy. We find that if the structural complexity of healthy coral reefs...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Carlot, Jérémy, Vousdoukas, Michalis, Rovere, Alessio, Karambas, Theofanis, Lenihan, Hunter S., Kayal, Mohsen, Adjeroud, Mehdi, Pérez-Rosales, Gonzalo, Hedouin, Laetitia, Parravicini, Valeriano
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2023
Materias:
Article
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9887012/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36717604
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28945-x
Descripción
Sumario:Coral reefs offer natural coastal protection by attenuating incoming waves. Here we combine unique coral disturbance-recovery observations with hydrodynamic models to quantify how structural complexity dissipates incoming wave energy. We find that if the structural complexity of healthy coral reefs conditions is halved, extreme wave run-up heights that occur once in a 100-years will become 50 times more frequent, threatening reef-backed coastal communities with increased waves, erosion, and flooding.

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