Neurotech
05/02/2006, 05:25 PM
Some coral seems to beat the heat
THE WASHINGTON POST
May 2, 2006
Most corals face a dire fate if the world's oceans continue to warm but some reefs appear able to survive higher water temperatures by accelerating their feeding rates, according to a study in the journal Nature.
The study, by scientists at Ohio State, Brown and Villanova universities, found that the Hawaiian branching coral Montipora capitata recovered from bleaching associated with global warming by increasing its intake of tiny plankton. But other species, such as Porites compressa and Porites lobata, did not.
The new findings are significant because climate change represents the greatest single threat to the future survival of coral reefs. Scientists predict that as much as 60 percent of reefs worldwide may die in the next few decades because of warmer ocean temperatures.
Once the water warms, the single-celled algae (called zooxanthellae) that live inside the corals leave, depriving them of their color and most of their food energy. But some corals such as Montipora capitata use small tentacles to grab passing plankton and digest them, letting them recover from bleaching incidents.
Andrea Grottoli, a geological sciences professor at Ohio State and the paper's lead author, said that, though scientists might be able to encourage corals "to eat a bit more," she suspects species that are more inclined to feed will do better while others will die out.
"There's a glimmer of hope that there's a resilience in corals we didn't appreciate before, but I would be reluctant to say corals are now going to survive," said Grottoli, who wrote the paper along with Brown graduate student James Palardy and Villanova postdoctoral research fellow Lisa Rodrigues. "It's still pretty grim."
THE WASHINGTON POST
May 2, 2006
Most corals face a dire fate if the world's oceans continue to warm but some reefs appear able to survive higher water temperatures by accelerating their feeding rates, according to a study in the journal Nature.
The study, by scientists at Ohio State, Brown and Villanova universities, found that the Hawaiian branching coral Montipora capitata recovered from bleaching associated with global warming by increasing its intake of tiny plankton. But other species, such as Porites compressa and Porites lobata, did not.
The new findings are significant because climate change represents the greatest single threat to the future survival of coral reefs. Scientists predict that as much as 60 percent of reefs worldwide may die in the next few decades because of warmer ocean temperatures.
Once the water warms, the single-celled algae (called zooxanthellae) that live inside the corals leave, depriving them of their color and most of their food energy. But some corals such as Montipora capitata use small tentacles to grab passing plankton and digest them, letting them recover from bleaching incidents.
Andrea Grottoli, a geological sciences professor at Ohio State and the paper's lead author, said that, though scientists might be able to encourage corals "to eat a bit more," she suspects species that are more inclined to feed will do better while others will die out.
"There's a glimmer of hope that there's a resilience in corals we didn't appreciate before, but I would be reluctant to say corals are now going to survive," said Grottoli, who wrote the paper along with Brown graduate student James Palardy and Villanova postdoctoral research fellow Lisa Rodrigues. "It's still pretty grim."