Succession and Emergence of Corals in High-Latitude (Temperate) Areas of Eastern Asia into the Future

Abstract

High-latitude areas have been hypothesized as potential refugia in the future for those corals which can range-shift across the latitudes (from tropical to high or low latitudes). However, whether high latitude will be the future hope for corals either through succession (proliferation of regionally or locally endemic species) or emergence (range-shifts) needs more research. In this chapter, we argue that the future corals in high latitudes will be more due to succession than emergence. Recent data from molecular studies indicate that rather than poleward range shifts, increasing abundances of previously less abundant local coral species may be responsible for these changes, thereby hinting towards succession of species. The proliferation of rare or cryptic species (e.g., acroporid corals) adapted to the environmental features of high latitudes could form majority of the future benthos in these areas. Considering that high-latitude locations are ‘oases’ for native coral species, it is important to designate these areas for conservation to protect endemic species and lineages. Also, to better facilitate future conservation, it is necessary to conduct more research on high-latitude coral communities, particularly on those endemic species and lineages, by including eco-physiological, molecular ecological, and taxonomic (molecular and morphological) approaches to understand whether future coral communities will be dominated by the succession of these local species or the poleward range-shifting of lower latitude species or a mixture of both scenarios.