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Research
There is nothing more urgent for contemporary science than to provide answers to key questions on the effects of climate change on marine organisms, particularly reef corals. Ocean warming and sea-level rise threaten the very existence of many marine species, which in turn influence the human societies that rely on these marine resources. The key questions that need urgent answers are: 1) Where will reef organisms exist under a rapidly changing climate? 2) Which reef organisms will tolerate climate change and why? 3) Where will coral reefs keep up with sea level rise? and 4) What influence does local land-use change play on resilience and coral reefs keeping up with sea-level rise? The lab is working toward developing spatially explicit models on where reefs are likely to bleach, recover, and survive under thermal stress and ocean warming. These models are critically important for the human populations that are dependent upon coral reefs for sustenance and protective barriers.
Selected Publications
2024
Ferris, Z., Ribeiro, E., Nagata, T. & van Woesik, R. ReScape: transforming coral-reefscape images for quantitative analysis. Scientific Reports 14, 8915 (2024).
van Woesik, R. & Kratochwill, C.A. A global database on coral recovery following marine heatwaves. Scientific Data 11, 367 (2024).
Walker, A.S., Kratochwill, C.A. & van Woesik, R. Past disturbances and local conditions influence the recovery rates of coral reefs. Global Change Biology 30, e17112 (2024).
Banister, R.B., Viehman, T.S., Schopmeyer, S. & van Woesik, R. Environmental predictors for the restoration of a critically endangered coral, Acropora palmata, along the Florida reef tract. PLoS ONE 19, e0296485 (2024).
2023
Shlesinger, T., & van Woesik, R. Oceanic differences in coral-bleaching responses to marine heatwaves. Science of The Total Environment, 162113 (2023).
2022
van Woesik, R., and Kratochwill, C. A global coral-bleaching database, 1980–2020. Scientific Data 9, 1-7 (2022).
Sully, S., Hodgson, G., van Woesik, R. Present and future bright and dark spots for coral reefs through climate change. Global Change Biology 28, 4509-4522 (2022).
van Woesik, R., Shlesinger, T., Grottoli, A. G., Toonen, R. J., Vega Thurber, R., Warner, M. E., ... & Zaneveld, J. Coral‐bleaching responses to climate change across biological scales. Global Change Biology 28, 4229-4250 (2022).
2021
Donovan. M.K., Burkepile, D.E., Kratochwill, C., Shlesinger, T., Sully, S., Oliver, T.A., Hodgson, G., Friewald, J., van Woesik, R. Local conditions magnify coral loss following marine heatwaves. Science 372, 977-980 (2021).
van Woesik, R., and Cacciapaglia, C. Thermal stress jeopardizes carbonate production of coral reefs across the western and central Pacific Ocean. PLoS One 16, e0249008 (2021).
Banister RB, van Woesik, R. Ranking 67 Florida reefs for survival of Acropora cervicornis outplants. Frontiers in Marine Science 8, 672574 (2021).
Cacciapaglia C, Bush M, van Woesik, R. Legacies of an ice-age world explain modern biogeographical provinces of corals. Frontiers of Biogeography 13, e50008 (2021).
Bush, M.B., Correa-Metrio, A., van Woesik, R., Collins, A., Hanselman, J., Martinez, P., McMichael, C. Modern pollen assemblages of the Neotropics. J Biogeography 48, 231-241 (2020).
Grottoli, AG., Toonen, R., van Woesik, R., Vega Thurber, B., Warner, M., McLachlan, R., Price, J., Bahr, K., Buams, I., Castillo, K., Coffroth, MA., Cunning, R., Dobson, K., Donahue, M., Hench, J., Iglesias-Prieto, R., Kemp, D., Kenkel, C., Kline, D., Kuffner, I., Matthews, J., Mayfield, A., Padilla-Gamino, J., Palumbi, S., Voolstra, C., Weis, V., Wu, H. Increasing comparability among coral bleaching experiment. Ecological Applications 31, e02262 (2021).
Shlesinger, T., and van Woesik, R. Different population trajectories of two reef-building corals with similar life-history traits. Journal of Animal Ecology 90, 1379-1389 (2021).
van Woesik, R., Banister, R., Bartels, E., Brown E.J., Gilliam, D.S., Goergen, E.A., Lustic, C., Maxwell, K., Moura, A., Muller, E., Schopmeyer, S., Winters, R.S., Lirman, D. Survival of nursery reared Acropora cervicornis outplants along the Florida reef tract. Restoration Ecology 29, e13302 (2021).
2020
Muller, M., Sartor, C., Alcaraz, N.I., van Woesik, R. Spatial epidemiology of the stony-coral-tissue-loss disease in Florida. Frontiers in Marine Science 7, 163 (2020).
van Woesik, R., Roth, L., Brown, E.J., McCaffrey, K.R., Roth, J. Niche space of corals along the Florida reef tract. PLoS One 15, e0231104 (2020).
Cacciapaglia, C. and van Woesik, R. Climate-change vulnerability and fishing pressure reveal where coral reefs will keep up with rising seas. Ecography 43, 1-12 (2020).
Sully, S. and van Woesik, R. Coral-reef bright spots: turbidity moderates coral bleaching through thermal-stress events. Global Change Biology 26, 1367–1373 (2020).
Houk, P., Anthony Yalon, A., Maxin, S., Starsinic, C., McInnis, A., Gouezo, M., Golbuu, Y., van Woesik, R. Predicting coral-reef futures from El Niño and Pacific Decadal Oscillation events. Scientific Reports 10, 7735 (2020).
2019
van Woesik, R., Cacciapaglia, C. Carbonate production of Micronesian reefs suppressed by thermal anomalies and Acanthaster as sea-level rises. PloS One 14, e0224887 (2019).
Gravinese, P.M., Enochs, I.C., Manzello, D.P., van Woesik, R. Ocean acidification changes the vertical movement of stone crab larvae. Biology Letters 15, 20190414 (2019).
Sully, S., Burkepile, D.E., Donovan, M.K., Hodgson, G., van Woesik, R. A global analysis of coral bleaching over the past two decades. Nature Communications volume 10, 1264 (2019).
Li, Y., Randall, C.J., van Woesik, R., Ribeiro, E. Underwater video mosaicking using topology and superpixel-based pairwise stitching. Expert Systems with Applications 119, 171-183 (2019).
2018
van Woesik, R., Köksal, S., Ünal, A., Cacciapaglia, C.W., Randall, C.J. Predicting coral dynamics through climate change. Scientific Reports 8, 17997 (2018).
Gravinese, P.M., Enochs, I.C., Manzello, D.P., van Woesik, R. Warming and pCO2 effects on Florida stone-crab larvae. Estuarine and Coastal Shelf Sciences 204, 193-201 (2018).
van Woesik, R. and Cacciapaglia, C.W. Keeping up with sea-level rise: Carbonate production rates in Palau and Yap, western Pacific Ocean. PLoS ONE 13, e019707 (2018).
2017
Randall, C.J. & van Woesik, R. Some coral diseases track climate oscillations in the Caribbean. Scientific Reports 7, 5719 (2017).
van Woesik, R. & Randall, C.R. Coral-disease hotspots in the Caribbean. Ecosphere 8, e01814 (2017).
van Woesik, R. and McCaffrey K.R. Repeated thermal stress, shading, and directional selection in the Florida reef tract. Frontiers in Marine Science 4, 182 (2017).
van Woesik, R. Contemporary coral bleaching: why diversity matters. Biodiversity 18, 16-18 (2017).
2016
Cacciapaglia, C., and van Woesik, R. Climate-change refugia: shading reef corals by turbidity. Global Change Biology 22, 1145-1154 (2016).
2015
Randall, C.J., and van Woesik, R. Contemporary white-band disease in the Caribbean has been driven by climate change. Nature Climate Change 5, 375-379 (2015).
Cacciapaglia, C., and van Woesik, R. Reef-coral refugia in a rapidly changing ocean. Global Change Biology 21, 2272-2282 (2015).
2014
Mumby, P.J., and van Woesik, R. Consequences of ecological, evolutionary and biogeochemical uncertainty for coral reef responses to climatic stress. Current Biology 24, 413-423 (2014).
Randall, C.J., Jordan-Garza, A., Muller, E., van Woesik, R. Relationships between the history of thermal stress and the relative risk of Caribbean coral diseases. Ecology 95, 1981-1994 (2014).
2013
van Woesik, R. Quantifying uncertainty and resilience on coral reefs using a Bayesian approach. Environmental Research Letters 8, 044051 (2013).
2012
van Woesik, R., Houk, P., Isechal, A.R., Idechong, J.W., Victor, S., Golbuu, Y. Climate-change microrefugia: nearshore reefs bleach less than outer reefs during a 2010 regional thermal stress event in Palau. Ecology and Evolution 2, 2474-2484 (2012).
2011
van Woesik, R., and Jordan-Garza, A.G. Coral populations in a rapidly changing environment. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 408, 11-20 (2011).
van Woesik, R., Sakai, K., Ganase, A., Loya, Y. Revisiting the winners and loser a decade after coral bleaching. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 434, 67-76 (2011).
Mosblech, N.A., Bush, M.B., van Woesik, R. On Metapopulations and Microrefugia: paleoecological insights. J Biogeography 38, 419-429 (2011).
2010
van Woesik, R. Calm before the spawn: global coral-spawning synchronization is explained by regional wind fields. Proc Royal Society B 277, 715-722 (2010).
2009
Thompson, D., and van Woesik, R. Corals escape bleaching in regions that recently and historically experienced frequent thermal stress. Proc Royal Society B: 276, 2893-2901 (2009).
Rongo, T., Bush, M., van Woesik, R. Did Ciguatera prompt the late Holocene Polynesian voyages of Discovery? J Biogeography 36, 1423-1432 (2009).