Posted January 21, 2026 · Submitted by Mei Tanaka, Kyoto University
Recurrent marine heatwaves are restructuring coral reef ecosystems more rapidly than recovery can proceed. Synthesising five years of survey data along a thermal-stress gradient, we document a directional shift toward heat-tolerant but structurally simplified coral assemblages. This trajectory implies a progressive decline in habitat complexity and associated ecosystem function, even where total coral cover is partially sustained.
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Mei Tanaka, Amara Okeke, Sofia Reyes (2026). Marine Heatwave Imprints on Coral Reef Community Structure: A Five-Year Synthesis. TerraNova preprint.
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The vertical fate of buoyant plastics in the open ocean remains poorly quantified, limiting global inventories of marine plastic pollution. Using moored sediment-trap arrays deployed across a subtropical gyre, we document a persistent downw…
Read preprint →Mei Tanaka, Henrik Vasquez
Forecasting eruptions at persistently active volcanoes requires robust links between surface deformation and subsurface magmatic processes. We analyse a multi-year interferometric synthetic-aperture radar time series spanning two eruptive e…
Read preprint →Mei Tanaka, Liam O'Connor
The vertical fate of buoyant plastics in the open ocean remains poorly quantified, limiting global inventories of marine plastic pollution. Using moored sediment-trap arrays deployed across a subtropical gyre, we document a persistent downw…
Read preprint →