Coral Algae May Suvive Global Warming

Thursday, February 18, 2010, 15:11

A team of scientists have discovered a diversity of corals harboring unusual species of symbiotic algae in the warm waters of the Andaman Sea in the northeastern Indian Ocean.

This discovery made by researchers from Penn State University and international collaborators, is surprising because generally algae can't survive in warm waters and the water here is also murky sometimes. The tidal flux is also so great here that many of the corals can spend hours out of water, exposed to the harsh sun and dry air. But they survived it all.

The discovery was made by researchers from Penn State University and their international collaborators.

The team"s leader, Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology, Todd LaJeunesse,says, “The existence of so many novel coral symbioses thriving in a place that is too warm for most corals gives us hope that coral reefs and the ecosystems they support may persist — at least in some places — in the face of global warming."

Corals are colonies of tiny animals that derive nutrients and energy from golden-brown. These are photosynthetic algae that live inside the corals" cells.

“This symbiotic relationship is sensitive to changes in the environment. An increase in sea-surface temperature of just a few degrees Fahrenheit for a period of several months can cause many of the coral-algal symbioses to break down and the algae to be expelled," said LaJeunesse.

LaJeunesse is afraid that continued global warming eventually may cause the demise of coral-reef ecosystems. With this discovery it is proved that at least these kinds of algaes will survive.

But talking of the regular coral reefs, team members of Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, coral-dominated reefs may become scarce within the next 30 to 50 years.