Coral Breeding May Give Reefs the Right Genes to Survive Global Warming

First Posted: Jun 25, 2015 05:12 PM EDT

Corals may already be adapting to global warming. Scientists have discovered that some coral populations already have genetic variants necessary to tolerate warm ocean waters, and humans may be able to help spread these genes.

In this latest study, the researchers crossed corals from naturally warmer areas of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia with corals from a cooler latitude nearly 300 miles to the south. The researchers found that coral larvae with parents from the north, where waters were about 2 degrees Celsius warmer, were up to 10 times as likely to survive heat stress, compared with those with parents from the south. Using genomic tools, the scientists then identified the biological processes responsible for this heat tolerance.

"Our research found that corals do not have to wait for new mutations to appear," said Mikhail Matz, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Averting coral extinction may start with something as simple as an exchange of coral immigrants to spread already existing genetic variants. Coral larvae can move across oceans naturally, but humans could also contribute, relocating adult corals to jump-start the process."

Coral reefs worldwide have been badly damaged by rising sea surface temperatures. More specifically, bleaching, which occurs when temperatures are too high, can cause vast swathes of corals to die off.

"This discovery adds to our understanding of the potential for coral to cope with hotter oceans," said Line Bay, an evolutionary biologist.

The findings may mean there's hope for these corals in the future. If researchers can breed corals that can better withstand rising temperatures, then reefs may be able to cope with climate change just a bit better.

The findings are published in the journal Science.

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TagsCoral Reef, Coral, global warming, Climate Change, Climate