Marine heatwaves (MHWs), increasing in duration and intensity because of climate change, are now a major threat to marine life and can have lasting effects on the structure and function of ecosystems. However, the responses of marine taxa and ecosystems to MHWs can be highly variable, making predicting and interpreting biological outcomes a challenge. Here, we review how biological responses to MHWs, from individuals to ecosystems, are mediated by fine-scale spatial variability in the coastal marine environment (hereafter, local gradients). Viewing observed responses through a lens of ecological theory, we present a simple framework of three \'resilience processes\' (RPs) by which local gradients can influence the responses of marine taxa to MHWs. Local gradients (1) influence the amount of stress directly experienced by individuals, (2) facilitate local adaptation and acclimatization of individuals and populations, and (3) shape community composition which then influences responses to MHWs. We then synthesize known examples of fine-scale gradients that have affected responses of benthic foundation species to MHWs, including kelp forests, coral reefs, and seagrass meadows and link these varying responses to the RPs. We present a series of case studies from various marine ecosystems to illustrate the differential impacts of MHWs mediated by gradients in both temperature and other co-occurring drivers. In many cases, these gradients had large effect sizes with several examples of local gradients causing a 10-fold difference in impacts or more (e.g., survival, coverage). This review highlights the need for high-resolution environmental data to accurately predict and manage the consequences of MHWs in the context of ongoing climate change. While current tools may capture some of these gradients already, we advocate for enhanced monitoring and finer scale integration of local environmental heterogeneity into climate models. This will be essential for developing effective conservation strategies and mitigating future marine biodiversity loss.

At a time when ambitious environmental management initiatives are required to protect and restore aquatic ecosystems, public trust in the science that underpins environmental policy and decision-making is waning. This decline in public trust coincides with a rise in misinformation, and threatens to undermine public support for, and participation in, environmental protection. Our study investigates the prevalence and predictors of mistrust in science associated with the protection and management of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and its catchments. Using survey data from 1,877 residents of the GBR region, we identify environmental values, perceptions, and attitudes that are associated with science mistrust. Our results include a typology of GBR science trust and scepticism. Science-sceptical respondents, representing 31% of our sample, were likely to perceive waterway management decisions as being unfair, felt less responsible, and were less motivated to contribute to improving waterway health than those with greater trust in science. Science-sceptical respondents also had differing perceptions of some threats to waterways, in particular climate change. However, similarities and \'common ground\' between respondents with varying levels of trust in science included a shared recognition of the importance of waterways\' ecosystem services, and a shared perception of the relative health and problems within their regions\' waterways. Our findings can help to break down assumptions about science-sceptical groups in the GBR region and elsewhere. We offer recommendations to guide more constructive engagement that seeks to restore trust and build consensus on mutual goals and pathways to protect vital ecosystem functions and services.

The southwestern tropical Pacific is a key center for the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), which regulates global climate. This study introduces a groundbreaking 627-year coral Sr/Ca sea surface temperature reconstruction from Fiji, representing the IPO\'s southwestern pole. Merging this record with other Fiji and central tropical Pacific records, we reconstruct the SST gradient between the southwestern and central Pacific (SWCP), providing a reliable proxy for IPO variability from 1370 to 1997. This reconstruction reveals distinct centennial-scale temperature trends and insights into Pacific-wide climate impacts and teleconnections. Notably, the 20th century conditions, marked by simultaneous basin-scale warming and weak tropical Pacific zonal-meridional gradients, deviate from trends observed during the past six centuries. Combined with model simulations, our findings reveal that a weak SWCP gradient most markedly affects IPO-related rainfall patterns in the equatorial Pacific. Persistent synchronous western and central Pacific warming rates could lead to further drying climate across the Coral Sea region, adversely affecting Pacific Island nations.

Mangrove trees occur in a variety of geomorphic and sedimentary settings. Yet, studies investigating their role as habitat providers often focus on the most common biophysical types, such as deltaic, estuarine, open coast or lagoonal mangroves on soft sediments, disregarding less typical environments. Here, we investigated the influence of individual mangrove trees growing on a consolidated backreef system (Laucala Bay, Fiji) on habitat use by reef fishes. Combining field surveys and an experiment, we quantified the extent to which reef mangrove trees serve as habitat for solitary or shoaling reef fishes. Using mangrove tree mimics, we disentangled effects attributable to the physical structure of trees from those related to their bio-chemical properties. We found that fish numbers were 3.7 times higher within close proximity to the mangrove trees than at control sites and correlated significantly with root system perimeter. The roots of larger trees sheltered aggregations of juveniles and adults at incoming and high tides. Mangrove trees and mimics attracted fishes alike. We show that mangrove trees on backreefs provide habitat for shoaling and adult reef fishes in addition to serving as nursery areas, an ecosystem service otherwise lacking on backreef areas with low structural complexity.

Azooxanthellate scleractinian corals, a group of species that lack a symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellates, are influenced by environmental variables at various scales. As the global commitment to sustainably manage ocean ecosystems and resources rises, there is a growing need to describe biodiversity trends in previously unsampled areas. Benthic invertebrate research in South Africa is a developing field, and many taxa in deep water environments remain inadequately characterized. Recently, the South African azooxanthellate scleractinian fauna was taxonomically reviewed, but their distributional correlations with physical parameters have not been studied. Here we aim to understand the biodiversity gradients of the South African azooxanthellate coral fauna by analysing the environmental correlates of museum samples. The associated coordinate data were georeferenced and depth obtained from a national bathymetric dataset, prior to undertaking a multivariate analysis. This analysis encompassed several steps, including the grouping of the longitude and depth data (environmental data), identifying families characteristic of the group variability, and examining the correlation of the associated data with the biological data. Additionally, the analysis involved quantifying diversity patterns along the environmental gradients. Overall, our results confirmed two longitudinal groups (eastern margin [Group A] vs southern and western margin [Group B]) and 11 depth categories represented within two bathymetric zones (shallow [50-200 m] and deep [300-1000 m]). Caryophylliids, flabellids, and dendrophylliids contributed the most towards distinguishing longitudinal and depth gradients. Both abiotic variable (longitudinal and depth) partially explained coral distribution patterns, with depth being highly correlated to the species variation observed. Data limitations within our data set resulted to unexplained variance, however, despite these limitations, the study demonstrates that historical museum samples provide a valuable data source that can fill research sampling gaps and help improve the understanding of biodiversity patterns of the coral fauna in under sampled marine ecosystems.

Majority of macrozooplankton have a wider dietary niche breadth and utilize small invertebrates, microzooplankton and mesozooplankton, so effect on primary production might be through trophic cascading effect. To better understand the ecosystem structure of benthic oyster-macroalgae reefs, we analyzed zooplankton community structure before (July 2016) and after (from September 2016 to October 2017) the construction of benthic reefs in the 2 km2 sea ranch area in Xiangyun Cove, Tangshan, China. We identified 57 zooplankton species, including the 12 cnidarian (e.g., Clytia hemisphaerica Linnaeus and Eirene ceylonensis Browne), 1 ctenopharyngodon (Pleurobrachia globosa Moser), 24 crustacean (e.g., Calanus sinicus Brodsky, Paracalanus parvus Claus, Labibocera euchaeta Glesbrecht, Labibocera bipinnata Tanaka, Calanopia thompsoni Scott, and Centropages dorsispinatus Thompson), 1 chaetognath (Sagitta crassa Tokioka), 1 urochordate species (Oikopleura dioica Fol), and 18 species of planktonic polychaete and gastropod larvae. The zooplankton density and biomass values before reef construction were 266.14 ind/m3 and 2.72 mg/m3, respectively, and those after reef construction were 138.06 ind/m3 and 32.91 mg/m3, respectively. The biomass trend was as follow: October 2017 (89.08 mg/m3) > August 2017 (70.97) > September 2016 (3.17) > July 2016 (2.72) > June 2017 (0.86) > May 2017 (0.44). The common dominant organisms were crustaceans and chaetognaths. According to the RDA ranking results, water temperature was positively correlated with the Shannon-Wiener diversity index and Margalef\'s richness indexes. With the increasement of Margalef\'s richness index, the value of dissolved oxygen content showed a significant negative correlation with zooplankton abundance. The results of this study are applicable to sustainable development and management strategies of coastal reef ecosystems and provide a basis for further surveys of secondary productivity in the sea ranch area.

Mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia between 2016 and 2024 was driven by high sea surface temperatures (SST)1. The likelihood of temperature-induced bleaching is a key determinant for the future threat status of the GBR2, but the long-term context of recent temperatures in the region is unclear. Here we show that the January-March Coral Sea heat extremes in 2024, 2017 and 2020 (in order of descending mean SST anomalies) were the warmest in 400 years, exceeding the 95th-percentile uncertainty limit of our reconstructed pre-1900 maximum. The 2016, 2004 and 2022 events were the next warmest, exceeding the 90th-percentile limit. Climate model analysis confirms that human influence on the climate system is responsible for the rapid warming in recent decades. This attribution, together with the recent ocean temperature extremes, post-1900 warming trend and observed mass coral bleaching, shows that the existential threat to the GBR ecosystem from anthropogenic climate change is now realized. Without urgent intervention, the iconic GBR is at risk of experiencing temperatures conducive to near-annual coral bleaching3, with negative consequences for biodiversity and ecosystems services. A continuation on the current trajectory would further threaten the ecological function4 and outstanding universal value5 of one of Earth\'s greatest natural wonders.

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Lunar rhythms shape spawning phenology and subsequent risks and rewards for early life-history stages in the sea. Here, we consider a perplexing spawning phenology of the sixbar wrasse (Thalassoma hardwicke), in which parents spawn disproportionately around the new moon, despite the low survival of these larvae. Because primary sex determination in this system is highly plastic and sensitive to social environments experienced early in development, we ask whether this puzzling pattern of spawning is explained by fitness trade-offs associated with primary sexual maturation. We used otoliths from 871 fish to explore how spawning on different phases of the moon shapes the environments and phenotypes of settling larvae. Offspring that were born at the new moon were more likely to settle (i) before other larvae, (ii) at a larger body size, (iii) at an older age, (iv) to the best quality sites, and (v) as part of a social group-all increasing the likelihood of primary maturation to male. Selection of birthdates across life stage transitions suggests that the perplexing spawning phenology of adults may reflect an evolutionarily stable strategy that includes new moon spawning for compensatory benefits later in life, including preferential production of primary males at certain times.

Marine Animal Forests (MAFs) form three-dimensional seascapes and provide substrate and shelter for a variety of species. We investigated the fine-scale distribution pattern of three habitat-forming species of the coastal Mediterranean MAFs: Eunicella cavolini, E. singularis and Paramuricea clavata, and assessed the influence of terrain, oceanographic, and biological factors on their distribution and the formation of MAFs in the central-northern Tyrrhenian Sea. Species presence and abundance were obtained through seafloor HD imagery and were combined with terrain and oceanographic parameters extracted from remote sensing data using distance-based linear modeling (DistLM) and generalized additive model (GAM). The three studied species occurred in all the study areas, with marked differences in their abundance and distribution across the different sites and habitat type, in relation to seafloor characteristics. Specifically, positive relationships emerged between the density of colonies and terrain parameters indicative of high seafloor complexity, such as slope and roughness, as well as the number species structuring MAFs. A clear niche separation for the three species was observed: E. cavolini and P. clavata were reported on coralligenous reefs, and in areas where the seafloor complexity may enhance hydrodynamics and transport of organic matter, while E. singularis was observed on red algal mats at shallower depths. A better understanding of the ecology of these gorgonians, as well as of the drivers determining MAFs formation, represent the first step toward the conservation of these threatened habitats which are currently poorly protected by management and conservation plans.