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Science 15 August 2003:
Vol. 301. no. 5635, pp. 952 - 955
DOI: 10.1126/science.1083841
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Reports

Coral Reef Death During the 1997 Indian Ocean Dipole Linked to Indonesian Wildfires

Nerilie J. Abram,1* Michael K. Gagan,1 Malcolm T. McCulloch,1 John Chappell,1 Wahyoe S. Hantoro2

Geochemical anomalies and growth discontinuities in Porites corals from western Sumatra, Indonesia, record unanticipated reef mortality during anomalous Indian Ocean Dipole upwelling and a giant red tide in 1997. Sea surface temperature reconstructions show that although some past upwelling events have been stronger, there were no analogous episodes of coral mortality during the past 7000 years, indicating that the 1997 red tide was highly unusual. We show that iron fertilization by the 1997 Indonesian wildfires was sufficient to produce the extraordinary red tide, leading to reef death by asphyxiation. These findings highlight tropical wildfires as an escalating threat to coastal marine ecosystems.

1 Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
2 Research and Development Center for Geotechnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Bandung, 40135, Indonesia.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nerilie.abram{at}anu.edu.au

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Comment on "Coral Reef Death During the 1997 Indian Ocean Dipole Linked to Indonesian Wildfires".
R. van Woesik (2004)
Science 303, 1297a
   Full Text »    PDF »
Response to Comment on "Coral Reef Death During the 1997 Indian Ocean Dipole Linked to Indonesian Wildfires".
N. J. Abram, M. G. Gagan, M. T. McCulloch, J. Chappell, and W. S. Hantoro (2004)
Science 303, 1297b
   Full Text »    PDF »


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