TUBBATAHA REEF, PHILIPPINES - APRIL 23: As these Acropora coral tables, the coral reefs is healthy ... [+]
The “Coral Triangle” is a region of coral reefs in the western Pacific Ocean around Indonesia, the Phillipines, Malaysia, and several other smaller countries. This patch of the Indo-Pacific Ocean is home to 75 percent of all corals species, six of seven turtle species, and several thousand fish species. Although corals - especially those in the tropics - can succumb to marine heatwaves, a new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) suggests that this biodiversity hotspot is able to withstand warming more than scientists had originally thought.
In 2016 - one of the warmest years on record - scientists from WCS and several tropical countries studied over 200 individual reefs spanning 12 countries. They considered the reefs’ overall exposure to warm seawater temperatures as well as the corals’ sensitivity to heat stress by looking for signs of bleaching.
Coral Reef Watch bleaching alert on June 3, 2020 for the Coral Triangle, with the area outlined
Overall, they found that bleaching across reefs was not consistent across the Coral Triangle and climate models had overestimated the level of destruction the reefs would experience. Specifically, coral reefs in island environments (like Indonesia, Australia, and Fiji) were more resistant to heat stress than those in Vietnam, Japan, India, and East Africa.
“The Coral Triangle is a great place to start. WCS is fortunate to have built a global conservation program that covers a large number of these climate resilient reefs,” said WCS Senior Conservation Scientist Dr. Tim McClanahan, “Even in areas where we find reefs suffering with low heat resistance, there are still smaller sanctuaries that can survive if people can reduce other reef threats, such as overfishing and pollution.”
#News | https://sciencespies.com/news/scientists-were-pleasantly-surprised-to-find-these-heat-resistant-corals/
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