Genetics could help preserve coral reefs

Coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate as water temperatures rise worldwide as a result of climate change, pollution and human activities. In the last three decades, for example, half of Australia's Great Barrier Reef has lost its coral cover.

Bleached corals on Pandora Reef, Great Barrier Reef in 2017. Photo: Australian Institute of Marine Science/Eric Matson

A new study by Columbia University scientists provides evidence that genetic sequencing can reveal evolutionary differences in reef-building corals. The revelations could one day help scientists identify which strains could adapt to warmer seas.

The findings of the research provide a window into the genetic processes that allow some corals to resist dramatic climate shifts. Understanding these processes could improve current preservation efforts.

"We need to use as many tools as possible to intervene, or we will continue to see coral reefs vanish," said Zachary Fuller, first author on the study. "Using genomics can help identify which corals have the capacity to live at higher temperatures, and reveal the genetic variants associated with climate resilience."

Coral reefs, found throughout the world in tropical oceans, are one of the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth. Reefs provide habitat for a large variety of marine species; they protect coastlines from storms, floods and erosion; and they help sustain the fishing and tourism industries.

In the late 1990s, reefs experienced their first wave of mass bleaching, which occurs when high water temperatures destroy the symbiotic relationship with a colony's colorful algae, causing the corals to turn white.

The loss effectively starves them, as corals are dependent on the photosynthetic algae for nutrients. Reefs can recover from bleaching, but prolonged periods of environmental stress can eventually kill them.

The new research predicts, to some degree, which corals are likely to withstand unusually high temperatures and resist bleaching events.

"Genomics allows us to examine the differences that could influence survival and bleaching tolerance, helping us work out how we might support coral health," said Molly Przeworski, senior study author. (National Science Foundation)

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Research unlocks genetic key to sunflower resilience

How do sunflowers manage to grow in the desert?

Vikings had smallpox and may have helped spread the world’s deadliest virus

Scientists have discovered extinct strains of smallpox in the teeth of Viking skeletons – proving for the first time that the killer disease plagued humanity for at least 1400 years.

NEOWISE: Rare image of a comet's sodium tail

In early July, Comet NEOWISE approached the sun for the first time in nearly 4,500 years.

Climate intervention offers some crop benefits, but abruptly ending it may backfire

Geoengineering -- spraying sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to combat global warming -- would only temporarily and partially benefit apple production in northern India, according to a new study.

Scientists study the role of Mediterranean reservoirs as producers of greenhouse gases

Researchers from the UGR have conducted the first-ever study of (...)

Researchers create a robotic camera backpack for insects

Tiny wireless, steerable camera advances vision for small robots.