Coral reef research in PLOS Climate

Coral reefs are among our planet’s most complex and biodiverse ecosystems and play vital roles in social-ecological systems, but they are also among the most sensitive ecosystems to the impacts of climate change. Rigorous scientific evidence is essential for understanding how they are responding to changing environmental conditions, and for identifying opportunities to maximise their resilience. PLOS Climate– particularly our Ecology & Biogeochemistry section– warmly encourages submissions that address these issues. Here, we present a round-up of some of the wide-ranging and interdisciplinary research and commentary on climate and coral reefs published in PLOS Climate.

“Our findings reveal pervasive underreporting of logger deployment methods in coral reef studies, highlighting the need to consider the possibility of bias when comparing studies or integrating different in situ temperature records.”
Rich WA, Glanz JS, Mele G, Burt NJ, Carvalho S, Doo SS, et al. (2024) Widespread inconsistency in logger deployment methods in coral reef studies may bias perceptions of thermal regimes. PLOS Clim 3(12): e0000517. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000517

“This study sheds light on the molecular mechanisms by which corals from inshore environments in the Florida Keys can withstand higher temperatures than corals offshore.”
Aguilar C, Enochs IC, Cohen K, Chomiak L, Kolodziej G, Baker AC, et al. (2024) Understanding differential heat tolerance of the threatened mountainous star coral Orbicella faveolata from inshore and offshore reef sites in the Florida Keys using gene network analysis. PLOS Clim 3(11): e0000403. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000403

“This paper investigates the relationship between the local temperature measured in-situ by loggers at coral sites in the western tropical Atlantic and two high resolution satellite SST products.”
Margaritis G, Kent EC, Foster GL (2025) Intercomparison of satellite-derived SST with logger data in the Caribbean—Implications for coral reef monitoring. PLOS Clim 4(1): e0000480. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000480

“Our study demonstrates that hotspot reefs do not necessarily harbour more heat tolerant corals than nearby thermal refugia, and that mass bleaching patterns do not necessarily predict species responses.”
Lachs L, Humanes A, Mumby PJ, Donner SD, Bythell J, Beauchamp E, et al. (2024) High coral heat tolerance at local-scale thermal refugia. PLOS Clim 3(7): e0000453. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000453

“Here we identify three guiding principles to prioritise research and innovation towards the protection of reefs and dependent livelihoods.”
Fabricius KE, Cooley SR, Golbuu Y, Riginos C, Gonzalez-Rivero M, Heron SF, et al. (2024) Research priorities to support coral reefs during rapid climate change. PLOS Clim 3(7): e0000435. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000435

“Here, we show that climate change will overwhelm current local-scale refugia, with declines in global thermal refugia from 84% of global coral reef pixels in the present-day climate to 0.2% at 1.5°C, and 0% at 2.0°C of global warming.”
Dixon AM, Forster PM, Heron SF, Stoner AMK, Beger M (2022) Future loss of local-scale thermal refugia in coral reef ecosystems. PLOS Clim 1(2): e0000004. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000004

“Caribbean coral reefs have been heating up at remarkable rates over the last century, resulting in total warming of 0.5 to 1°C. Additionally, the frequency and duration of acute marine heatwaves increased markedly, particularly since 2010.”
Bove CB, Mudge L, Bruno JF (2022) A century of warming on Caribbean reefs. PLOS Clim 1(3): e0000002. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000002

“[Our] results cautioned how short-term responses of fish assemblages following climate disturbances can provide false signs of success for some management policies without contextual reference baselines that may not exist.”
Houk P, McInnis A, Benavente D, Gaag M, Maxin S, McLean M, et al. (2022) Climate change disturbances contextualize the outcomes of coral-reef fisheries management across Micronesia. PLOS Clim 1(7): e0000040. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000040

“Our results support the emerging picture that coralline algae are more robust to […] anthropogenic drivers than other photoautotrophs and foundation species.”
 Krieger EC, Taise A, Nelson WA, Grand J, Le Ru E, Davy SK, et al. (2023) Tolerance of coralline algae to ocean warming and marine heatwaves. PLOS Clim 2(1): e0000092. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000092

“Thermal adaptation or acclimation by corals could further shift the bleaching projections by up to 40 years, yet coral reefs would still experience dangerously frequent bleaching conditions by the end of century in SPP2-4.5”
González-Espinosa PC, Donner SD (2023) Cloudiness delays projected impact of climate change on coral reefs. PLOS Clim 2(2): e0000090. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000090

“Continued warming will progressively exclude hypoxia-tolerant species, even if average oxygen remains constant.”
Lucey NM, Deutsch CA, Carignan M-H, Vermandele F, Collins M, Johnson MD, et al. (2023) Climate warming erodes tropical reef habitat through frequency and intensity of episodic hypoxia. PLOS Clim 2(3): e0000095. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000095

“Our results show the importance of longitudinal monitoring of coral bleaching events and the potential relationships between site biophysical factors and the severity of coral bleaching and mortality.”
Moriarty T, Leggat W, Heron SF, Steinberg R, Ainsworth TD (2023) Bleaching, mortality and lengthy recovery on the coral reefs of Lord Howe Island. The 2019 marine heatwave suggests an uncertain future for high-latitude ecosystems. PLOS Clim 2(4): e0000080. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000080

“Our study builds on these literatures and draws from expert interviews and extensive site visits to reveal the integrated drivers and dynamics of deploying reef regeneration, fogging and cloud brightening, community reforestation, and enhanced weathering as a portfolio for tackling an urgent problem, namely, the damage and destruction of the Great Barrier Reef.”
Sovacool BK, Baum CM, Low S, Fritz L (2023) Coral reefs, cloud forests and radical climate interventions in Australia’s Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef. PLOS Clim 2(10): e0000221. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000221

Are you working on climate and corals and looking for a venue for your next paper? Check out our step-by-step guide to submitting to PLOS Climate!