From ecological to socio-ecological assessment. Vulnerability of coral reefs to stress factors associated with climate change

Abstract

The degradation  of coral reefs has highlighted  their vulnerability to stress factors associated with climate change. An overview of the evolution of conceptual and methodological models is presented to assess the vulnerability of coral reefs to stress factors associated with climate change, through publications resulting from the following  bibliographic databases: ebscohost, ScienceDirect, jstor, Annual Reviews, Springer Link and pnas with the specific search terms: reef, vulnerability and climate change (Spanish and English). There was a tendency to increase the number of authors, institutions and countries per publication, Oceania being the region with the largest number of these papers. The first models to assess the climate vulnerability of these ecosystems only incorporated their ecological elements, whereas nowadays, most of them include  their socio-ecological elements. In Mexico, this type of models was found in reports, manuals and book chapters. Most of them present methodological models to assess the socio-ecological vulnerability of these ecosystems, and focus mainly on the capacity for adaptation in Protected Natural Areas; collaboration between various government and civil society institutions, —both national and international— and academia is also observed.