Isolated corals reefs are at risk from global climate change
For species such as corals the dispersal of their larvae and restocking of damaged reefs is critical to their ability to survive the changes produced by global warming.
In the latest issue of Ecology Letters, David Ayre and Terry Hughes from the Australia’s Wollongong and James Cook Universities have for the first time used genetic data to show that individual coral reefs within the world’s largest tropical reef system (the Great Barrier Reef) must be buffered against such change by strong larval connections.
This may occur in a stepping stone fashion between adjacent reefs. In contrast they found that at Lord Howe Island 700 km south and the southernmost Pacific Ocean Reef, corals have little of the genetic diversity needed to respond to change and appear to have no current connection to the Great Barrier Reef. The virtual absence of long-distance distance dispersal of corals to geographically isolated reefs makes them extremely vulnerable to global warming.
Media Contact
More Information:
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/All latest news from the category: Ecology, The Environment and Conservation
This complex theme deals primarily with interactions between organisms and the environmental factors that impact them, but to a greater extent between individual inanimate environmental factors.
innovations-report offers informative reports and articles on topics such as climate protection, landscape conservation, ecological systems, wildlife and nature parks and ecosystem efficiency and balance.
Newest articles
Trotting robots reveal emergence of animal gait transitions
A four-legged robot trained with machine learning by EPFL researchers has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking – a milestone for roboticists as well…
Innovation promises to prevent power pole-top fires
Engineers in Australia have found a new way to make power-pole insulators resistant to fire and electrical sparking, promising to prevent dangerous pole-top fires and reduce blackouts. Pole-top fires pose…
Possible alternative to antibiotics produced by bacteria
Antibacterial substance from staphylococci discovered with new mechanism of action against natural competitors. Many bacteria produce substances to gain an advantage over competitors in their highly competitive natural environment. Researchers…
