TANTALISING evidence suggests coral can be trained to withstand rising sea temperatures.
at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette found that Acropora millepora coral, which typically lives at 21 to 22 °C, experienced significant bleaching when held at 31 °C for eight days. But the coral could survive without bleaching if first held at 28 °C for 10 days.
Some researchers think that coral might adapt to hotter water by switching its algae or symbiotic bacteria to heat tolerant types – but that would take more than 10 days. Rodriguez-Lanetty used genetic sequencing to show no such changes occurred (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, ).
However, it’s unclear whether the heat tolerance is permanent. “Corals still face a gloomy future unless we stop global warming,” says Rodriguez-Lanetty.
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