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Scientists discover amazing corals that adapt to climate change

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These adapting corals may save ocean life during climate change.

Scientists have cross-bred corals coming from different latitude with variety of temperatures underwater and found that there are some corals that adapt better in climate change than others. With the rapid decline of coral reefs, experts are hoping that this new discovery will shed light for years of conservation studies done worldwide. Pollution, global warming, diseases and storms affect the health of corals, which led into the decline of their population over time.

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Highlights

By Atarah Haely (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
6/29/2015 (8 years ago)

Published in Green

Keywords: Genetics, Coral Reefs, Climate Change, Conservation, Study, DNA Makeup, Characteristics, Genes, Warm, Cool, Underwater

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - According to the published study, their DNA may be able to pass on to other coral species in the next generation, helping the underwater environment improve in the following years. Researchers have cross-bred samples of Acropora millepora, a branching coral, taken from two locations with a distance of about 500 kilometers from each other.

Some are from the warmer Princess Charlotte Bay, an area of the Great Barrier Reef near the equator. The other is taken from the Orpheus Island, which is just five degres latitude to the south with water that is much cooler by about 2 degrees Celsius.

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"Our research found that corals do not have to wait for new mutations to appear. Averting coral extinction may start with something as simple as an exchange of coral immigrants to spread already existing genetic variants," said Mikhail Matz, an associate professor of integrative biology at The University of Texas at Austin and one of the research proponents.

They discovered that the corals with parents coming from the warmer waters can survive up to 10 times more than the others if subjected to heat stress. It suggests that unlike those living in the cooler regions, these corals genetically have the natural resilience. Andrew Baker, an associate professor of marine biology and ecology uninvolved in the study, described it as "very promising."

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