Fig. 1: Colony bleaching heterogeneity.
From: Spatially restricted coral bleaching as an ecological manifestation of within-colony heterogeneity
a Non-bleached colony (left), whole-colony paling (middle), and whole-colony bleaching (right). b–d Examples of spatially restricted paling where certain parts of a coral colony pale while neighboring areas remain fully colored or unaffected in the form of (b) partial colony paling, (c) spotted paling, and (d) paling vs. non-paling of neighboring polyps. e–g Examples of spatially restricted bleaching where certain parts of a colony are fully bleached (white) while neighboring areas remain fully colored or unaffected in the form of (e) partial colony bleaching, (f) spotted (salt-and-pepper) bleaching, and (g) polyp-scale bleaching where some polyps show fully bleached tentacles with neighboring polyps remaining fully pigmented. These examples illustrate that bleaching heterogeneity exists between and within colonies and may reflect spatial differences in the response to thermal stress, which may be phenomenologically different from successive whole-colony paling and bleaching. Photo credits: a–e - Sebastian Szereday; f - Emma Camp; g - Anna Roik.
