What’s in the future for coral reefs?
As the climate changes, corals will continue to be confronted with warmer ocean temperatures. In the face of the current global mass bleaching, and the onset of annual bleaching in many locations around the globe, the ability to identify resilient corals has never been more important.
It’s clear from our research that some species won’t be able to withstand annual bleaching stress and will die out. At the same time, it’s encouraging that some species can adapt very quickly and appear to be able to cope with annual bleaching stress. Thus, coral reefs of the future will exist but in a less diverse form – which may or may not have a negative effect on the reef ecosystem function.
This interpretation of recent coral bleaching research offers hope over previous forecasts because, in the past, researchers didn’t always consider the possibility of rapid coral adaptation. But there’s still reason to be cautious.
As the oceans continue to become more acidic as they absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, corals are under the dual stress of rising temperatures and acidity. We don’t yet know the effect of annual bleaching stress on corals in an increasingly acidic ocean. Ongoing research by my team and many others around the world is currently under way to determine how or if corals will survive bleaching events in an increasingly acidic ocean.
Andréa Grottoli, Professor of Earth Sciences, Head of Water, Climate and Environment Division, Ohio State University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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