Back-to-back bleaching events in Peninsular Malaysia (2019–2020) selectively affect hard coral taxa across- and within-reef scales

Abstract

The impacts of (repeat) bleaching events and the differential heat stress susceptibility of hard coral taxa are largely unknown in Malaysia, although it is part of the greater coral triangle. Here we determined bleaching trajectories of 46 hard coral taxa across- and within-reef scales based on data recorded during the first reported back-to-back coral bleaching occurrences in Malaysia between May 2019 and September 2020. Although the severity of coral bleaching in both years did not correspond to the rather small magnitude of heat stress observed, i.e., Degree Heating Weeks (DHW) of 1.05 °C-weeks and 0 °C-weeks in 2019 and 2020 respectively, we observed high levels of bleaching (55.21% and 26.63% of all surveyed colonies in 2019 and 2020, respectively). Notably, the bleaching response for both consecutive years was highly taxon-specific and significantly varied across- and within-reef scales. Mortality rates overall were low following the 2019 event, likely due to a rapid decrease in heat stress. Five of the 46 surveyed hard coral taxa exhibited more severe bleaching in 2020, despite a lower heat stress load. Interestingly, we observed low bleaching of ascribed susceptible taxa such as Acropora and Montipora, while we found taxa considered to be resilient, e.g. Heliopora and Porites, to exhibit severe bleaching, suggesting a reversal of bleaching hierarchies of taxa over time. Our findings provide a foundation for further coral bleaching studies in a region with few published records to enable more accurate regional assessments and to follow the trajectory of future coral bleaching events.