Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 21 February 2019

Northern Red Sea coral reefs may survive a hot, grim future

By ALON BERNSTEIN and colored plants that serve study, published this month their tolerance levels may tions manager for the U.S.
ISABEL DEBRE as their primary food and in the Journal of Experimen- lend corals physiological National Oceanic and At-
Associated Press oxygen source. This causes tal Biology, found further benefits. “All corals were mospheric Administration’s
EILAT, Israel (AP) — As reefs to “bleach,” or take cause for optimism: The obliterated except for the Coral Reef Watch, who
the outlook for coral reefs on a bone-white pallor that coral species’ thermal resis- best genotypes, the win- was not a part of the study.
across a warming planet “Entirely new ecosystems
grows grimmer, scientists that can withstand climate
in Israel have discovered a change would be estab-
rare glimmer of hope: The lished.”
corals of the northern Red The U.S. agency has honed
Sea may survive, and even such restoration techniques
thrive, into the next centu- in Florida, where reefs play
ry. There is broad scientific a critical role in softening
consensus that the effects the blow of hurricanes.
of climate change have Jessica Bellworthy, a doc-
devastated the world’s toral student in Fine’s lab,
reefs, recently ravaging said that while it’s too soon
large swaths of the Great to tell whether Gulf of Aqa-
Barrier Reef in Australia, ba corals would retain their
one of the natural wonders resilience if multiplied and
of the world. transplanted to other envi-
The carbon dioxide that hu- ronments, it’s a “direction
mans pump into the atmo- we could eventually take
sphere spikes the tempera- our data.”
ture and acidity of sea- Fine likened transplanting
water, which both poisons corals to “playing God,”
the marine invertebrates saying that although such
and hampers their growth human intervention has
at alarming rates, accord- In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 photo, healthy corals are exhibited at the marine observatory in the become well-established, it
ing to studies published last Red Sea city of Eilat, southern Israel. carries ecological risks and
year in the journal Science. Associated Press raises ethical questions. For
Experts estimate that half instance, should humans
of the corals that existed in often portends mass mor- tance carries over to their ners of the climate change be introducing new species
the early 20th century have tality. offspring, indicating that lottery,” said Fine. Today, where there are natives?
died. But the corals at the While other hardy coral future generations will also these hardy corals con- But some scientists con-
northernmost tip of the Red species can be found in remain immune to bleach- tinue to survive as Red Sea tend that only a hands-on
Sea are exhibiting remark- the Indian and Pacific ing, with implications that waters warm, only showing response can address ac-
able resistance to the rising Oceans, “there’s nowhere could extend beyond this signs of heat stress at six de- celerating reef mortality
water temperatures and else in the world that reefs spot of the Red Sea. grees above the summer rates. From 2014-2017, cor-
acidification, according to are this far away from their Fine’s research credits maximum sea tempera- als experienced the most
recent research conduct- bleaching thresholds,” said northern Red Sea coral re- ture. widespread and damag-
ed by the Interuniversity Fine. Plenty of other refuges silience to a giant natural “Not only does this give us ing “bleaching event” in
Institute for Marine Scienc- remain unknown, but “this selection event that oc- an incentive to protect this global history, said De La
es based in Eilat. Experts is the only spot we know curred some 18,000 years special refuge as much as Cour. Experts often com-
hope the lessons learned of with a warranty ensur- ago. As glaciers retreated possible, but also allows us pare reefs to rainforests
in the Red Sea can help ing these reefs stay safe for at the end of the ice age, to find hints as to the most when trying to convey their
coral reefs elsewhere in the the next several decades,” reefs moved in to recolo- important genes for ther- stunning diversity of life. “If
world. he said. On a recent day nize the southern part of mal resistance,” he added. you lose reefs, you lose ev-
“Corals worldwide are dy- at the lab, Fine examined the sea, where tempera- Picking out winning genes erything that depends on
ing and suffering at a rapid coral fragments in water tures ran exceedingly high. can contribute to an ur- them,” said Michael Web-
pace, but we have not wit- treated to simulate future Only corals that could gent worldwide push to re- ster, executive director of
nessed a single bleaching global warming scenarios, bear the heat managed store and repopulate dead Coral Reef Alliance, a San
event in the Gulf of Aqa- pointing to their ruddy col- to reach maturity and mi- reefs. Some cutting-edge Francisco conservation
ba,” said Maoz Fine, an ex- or as a sign of good health. grate north, where they labs in Hawaii and Australia group. Reef death not only
pert on coral reefs at Bar- The Gulf of Aqaba has be- resettled in conditions sev- have even started cross- carries dire consequences
Ilan University and director come a refuge for tough eral degrees cooler than breeding the corals that for wildlife, but also for the
of the research. corals that are projected their thermal threshold. Fur- survived or recovered from homes, health and liveli-
Warmer water causes cor- to outlast far worse future ther research is underway the mass bleaching of their hoods of hundreds of mil-
als to eject the brightly conditions. Fine’s latest to determine how exist- reefs to create gene banks lions of people: those who
ing in temperatures below of “super-corals” that they fish, work in tourism, dwell
hope can survive future el- on islands made of coral or
evated temperatures. rely on reef protection from
“If corals are surviving and coastal erosion.
reproducing in the Gulf “The survivors in the Gulf of
of Aqaba under stressful Aqaba are only going to
conditions, and in the cen- become even more essen-
tral and southern Red Sea tial to us over the next 100
they’re not, we can reseed years,” said De La Cour.
the hardy corals in nearby “Coral refuges show us that
bleached areas,” said Jac- species can adapt. It gives
queline De La Cour, opera- us hope.”q