Coral reefs are one of the ecosystems most challenged by the changing oceans, and are significant in measuring ocean health and the effects of global warming. In recent years, coral reefs have become badly subjected to bleaching. Bleaching is what occurs when coral become stressed. Corals are animals that live in symbiosis with algae, and when they become stressed due to changes in ocean temperature, they flush the algae from their cells and take on a pale, or "bleached," appearance. These coral, while not dead, are much more susceptible to storm damage and disease, and major losses of coral will lead to a shrinking in ocean biodiversity and ocean ecosystem health. "Three global bleaching events have already occurred since the 1980s, and will likely occur annually starting later this century," said Verena Schoepf, leader of the recent study of coral bleaching. "Therefore, it has become more urgent than ever to know how coral can survive annual bleaching--one of the major threats to coral reefs today."
Those studying coral bleaching hope to find out how to help coral resist such events - and recent research has produced results. Studies now show that coral with higher fat content are much more resistant to short term and long term heat stress, and are able to bounce back from such events much quicker than those with low fat content. When corals photosynthesis slows down during bleaching, they start consuming their own bodies. Thus, the ones who had more fat to burn had less healing to do after the bleaching subsided, and were able to resume a normal status within a year. Hopefully these studies will help scientists to better predict the outcomes of coral bleaching and to better understand the processes by which coral recover from such events.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151118071005.htm
Those studying coral bleaching hope to find out how to help coral resist such events - and recent research has produced results. Studies now show that coral with higher fat content are much more resistant to short term and long term heat stress, and are able to bounce back from such events much quicker than those with low fat content. When corals photosynthesis slows down during bleaching, they start consuming their own bodies. Thus, the ones who had more fat to burn had less healing to do after the bleaching subsided, and were able to resume a normal status within a year. Hopefully these studies will help scientists to better predict the outcomes of coral bleaching and to better understand the processes by which coral recover from such events.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151118071005.htm