Persistence Without Resilience: Long-Term Degradation of Coral Populations in an Extreme Reef System
A 15-year study of the Ras Ghanada reef in the Persian/Arabian Gulf reveals that chronic thermal stress has driven a catastrophic functional decline, characterized by a 68% to <10% drop in coral cover, the loss of large colonies and dominant species, and a shift toward a degraded assemblage dominated by small, partially mortally affected colonies.