Hugh Bollinger / Sunday, May 22, 2011

Reefs on the move

Corals cover less than 1 percent of the world's oceans — an area smaller than France or Germany — but the reefs provide habitat for maybe 25 percent of the world's marine biodiversity. Corals develop from a symbiosis between an algae and a coral polyp, an animal that produces the hard structures of the reef. Only tropical rain forests compete with the volume of life in these marine gardens. [caption id="attachment_4251" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Philippine coral reef. source: Science Daily"]

[/caption] Corals and their symbionts are very sensitive to changes in the environment. They are threatened by impacts from higher ocean temperatures, increased acidity from dissolved carbonic acid, and powerful storms like cyclones. Coral bleaching -- directly resulting from higher temperatures --has occurred with increasing frequency on reefs around the world. However, initial indications of corals adapting to their changing environments has now observed. Researchers at the Tsukuba Institute for Environmental Studies reviewed over 80 years of ocean temperate records from areas around Japan. During this period, wintertime ocean temperatures rose over 4 degrees Fahrenheit. The Japanese scientists discovered that nearly half of coral species they studied in the same areas expanded their ranges northward by nearly 9 miles per year since the 1930's. This is a stunning rate of migration and none of the same coral species moved south toward the tropics. This story of moving corals will require much more investigation to confirm how widespread and if it is occurring elsewhere. However, this is a sign of hopeful adaptation for these wondrous undersea gardens and their diverse inhabitants. WHB

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Tags: climate change coral reefs ocean conservation coral ecology marine environments

Reefs on the move

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