Most sea creatures are dying due to the rising sea temperatures, including coral. In an innovative experiment, scientists from Stanford University have figured out that some coral can quickly adapt to tolerating hot water up to 50 times faster then they would through evolutionary change. Coral reefs are crucial to sustaining ocean life, and even a few degrees increase in water temperature can kill miles of coral. Researchers transfered colonies from a cold pool to a warm pool and vice versa. The colonies the transfered to the hot pool switched on their adaptive gene and were relatively quickly able to withstand the hot water. While the coral does have a limit on how drastic it can change, this evidence certainly shows more about how coral has survived.
NOS Themes:
Role of motivation and curiosity: scientist were curious as to how coral was able to survive the hotter waters.
Based on evidence: The coral activated their adaptive gene to survive the heat.
Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140424143737.htm
That is good that scientists found this out about coral because they are needed for such a large number of animals that live around the coral reefs. Will scientists be able to use this knowledge to help different types of coral survive the changing ocean temperatures, or will only the coral that are able to adapt quickly stay alive and overrun the coral reefs. If this does happen, will the loss of different corals have an effect on other types of fish living on the coral reefs.
ReplyDeleteScuba diving and snorkeling are one of my favorite summer time and vacationing actives and any good news about coral reef survival is music to my ears. Too often I am hearing about miles of precious coral reefs being destroyed by rising sea temperatures as well as various human activities. In my opinion, stopping coral reef destruction should be one of the forerunners of priority for scientists and all humans really. Like you said in your post, coral reefs are the foundation of sea life and, by extension, hundreds of land food webs as well.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking into this I found that corals actually have a genetic complexity that rivals that of humans. They have a sophisticated systems of biological communication that are being stressed by global change, and are only able to survive based on proper function of the symbiotic relationship it has with the algae that lives within their bodies. After this I found that over 20 percent of the world's coral reefs are already dead and an additional 24 percent are gravely threatened. This is really too bad and is an issue that needs to be adressed.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/10/ecoalert-why-are-the-worlds-coral-reefs-dying.html