A new study finds that about 31 million people worldwide live in coastal regions that are “highly vulnerable” to future tropical storms and sea-level rise driven by climate change. In some of those regions, however, powerful defenses are located just offshore.
A new report from the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) provides a promising assessment of the status of coral reefs in New Caledonia.
Upon first glance, the crown-of-thorns starfish looks a lot like an enemy creature you'd find in a nature-based video game. Long spikes cover its body, which can reach 2 1/2 feet in diameter. It's somewhat reminiscent of a land mine, if a land mine had 14 to 21 movable arms.
Corals are dying globally.
New research from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has found that large and powerful cyclones can harm coral reefs as far as 1000km away from their paths due to the extreme ocean conditions that they can churn up.
Coral reefs around the world are declining because of human activities such as overfishing, land-based pollution, and climate change, but new research finds that strategic local management can make a significant difference in their capacity to sustain biodiversity, including that of fish populati
A new policy has been launched to support and provide the legal framework for the conservation and management of Fiji’s coral reefs.
The government has partnered with Vulcan Inc, a US based company for the utilization of the Allen Coral Atlas to monitor and manage coral reefs.
A new study reveals clear evidence highlighting the importance of fish biodiversity to the health of spectacular tropical coral reef ecosystems.
Heat-evolved microalgal symbionts increase coral bleaching tolerance
Coral reefs worldwide are suffering mass mortalities from marine heat waves. With the aim of enhancing coral bleaching tolerance, we evolved 10 clonal strains of a common coral microalgal endosymbiont at elevated temperatures (31°C) for 4 years in the laboratory. All 10 heat-evolved strains had expanded their thermal tolerance in vitro following laboratory evolution. After reintroduction into coral host larvae, 3 of the 10 heat-evolved endosymbionts also increased the holobionts’ bleaching tolerance.