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.
Mei Tanaka, Amara Okeke, Sofia Reyes (2026). Marine Heatwave Imprints on Coral Reef Community Structure: A Five-Year Synthesis. TerraNova 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 →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 →