A long-term study of Hawaiian coral species provides a surprisingly optimistic view of how they might survive warmer and more acidic oceans resulting from climate change.
A long-term study of Hawaiian coral species provides a surprisingly optimistic view of how they might survive warmer and more acidic oceans resulting from climate change.
Researchers found that the three coral species studied did experience significant mortality under conditions simulated to approximate ocean temperatures and acidity expected in the future – up to about half of some of the species died.
But the fact that none of them completely died off – and some actually were thriving by the end of the study – provides hope for the future of corals, said Rowan McLachlan, who led the study as a doctoral student in earth sciences at The Ohio State University.
“We found surprisingly positive outcomes in our study. We don’t get a lot of that in the coral research field when it comes to the effects of warming oceans,” said McLachlan, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State University.
Read more at: Ohio State University
This is a view of the tank after 22 months in conditions expected under climate change. (Photo Credit: Rowan McLachlan)
