The latest international research says that bleaching has a long-term effect on coral physiology

BEIJING, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- A recent marine scientific research paper published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, a professional academic journal owned by Springer Nature, points out that after four years of coral bleaching in the ocean, even if corals appear to have recovered, physiological changes can still be detected in corals. The results of this study on the long-term effects of bleaching on coral physiology may have reference significance for the conservation and management of coral reefs.

Divers from israel's Gulf of Eilat, Israel's Natural Parks and Parks Authority salvaged corals from local waters and transferred them to a nearby marine park.

The paper describes that coral bleaching has a serious impact on the health and functioning of coral reef ecosystems. When the coral overheats, the algal symbiotes also cease to exist, leaving only white coral tissue. While algal symbiotes can be replanted and coral appearance can be restored from bleaching, the long-term effects on coral health have been understood.

To that end, corresponding authors Crawford Drury and Robert Quinn of Michigan State University and colleagues sampled rose corals during a severe bleaching event in Caneough Bay, Hawaii, in 2015. They recorded which corals had bleached and which corals had not. Four years later, they examined the metabolome of the same corals (small molecules produced by these organisms in various physiological processes) and found that corals that appeared to have recovered from bleaching continued to increase their saturated fatty acids and immune response molecules. They also verified the above results by exposing corals with different bleaching histories to experimental temperature stress in the experiment.

The authors argue that giving coral metabolome tests may be a quick, cost-effective shortcut that could be used to discover heat-tolerant corals that can regenerate damaged reefs. (End)

Source: China News Network