Corals Raise Hopes for Survival

[angelfishlover]

http://www.coralcoe.org.au/news_stories/coralsurvival.html

Hope some of the world’s corals may be able to escape destruction under climate change has emerged from a study by an international team of scientists working in French Polynesia in the Pacific.

The researchers found that corals off Moorea, in the central Pacific, have rebounded on five occasions despite sustaining heavy damage from four bleaching events and one cyclone in the past 18 years.

In particular they were able to recover even after the reef had been swamped by weeds, says team member Dr Lucie Penin of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.

“We conclude from this that coral reefs may not completely disappear as a result of climate change – as some people fear they might,†she says. (In the earth’s past history corals have become either nearly or totally extinct on five separate occasions, and some researchers warn that conditions under global warming may prove similar to those previous events.)

However Dr Penin notes that the corals studied lie on the outer reef slope of an island that is not heavily populated, and that the main human impact on them is fishing. “The lack of human pressure on the reef makes it more resilient,†she says. “This research suggests that, if left alone, coral reefs have the possibility to recover and re-grow.â€