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Great Barrier Reef risks losing tolerance to bleaching events
http://www.coralcoe.org.au/media-releases/great-barrier-reef-risks-losing-tolerance-to-bleaching-events[font face=Serif][font size=5]Great Barrier Reef risks losing tolerance to bleaching events[/font]
15 Apr 2016
[font size=3]A new study has found that Great Barrier Reef (GBR) corals were able to survive past bleaching events because they were exposed to a pattern of gradually warming waters in the lead up to each episode. However, this protective pattern is likely to be lost under near future climate change scenarios.
In a paper published in Science today, researchers from ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook University (JCU) and the University of Queensland (UQ), as well as the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration USA (NOAA) investigated what this warming pattern means for GBR coral bleaching events into the future.
Lead author Dr. Tracy Ainsworth from Coral CoE explains that bleaching is like a marathon for corals: “When corals are exposed to a pre-stress period in the weeks before bleaching, as temperatures start to climb, this acts like a practice run and prepares the coral. Corals that are exposed to this pattern are then less stressed and more tolerant when bleaching does occur.”
The researchers found that this “practice run” induces heat shock responses in the coral that reduce their severity of bleaching and mortality. The protective “practice run” was observed in three-quarters of stress events that occurred on the GBR in the past three decades.
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15 Apr 2016
[font size=3]A new study has found that Great Barrier Reef (GBR) corals were able to survive past bleaching events because they were exposed to a pattern of gradually warming waters in the lead up to each episode. However, this protective pattern is likely to be lost under near future climate change scenarios.
In a paper published in Science today, researchers from ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook University (JCU) and the University of Queensland (UQ), as well as the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration USA (NOAA) investigated what this warming pattern means for GBR coral bleaching events into the future.
Lead author Dr. Tracy Ainsworth from Coral CoE explains that bleaching is like a marathon for corals: “When corals are exposed to a pre-stress period in the weeks before bleaching, as temperatures start to climb, this acts like a practice run and prepares the coral. Corals that are exposed to this pattern are then less stressed and more tolerant when bleaching does occur.”
The researchers found that this “practice run” induces heat shock responses in the coral that reduce their severity of bleaching and mortality. The protective “practice run” was observed in three-quarters of stress events that occurred on the GBR in the past three decades.
…[/font][/font]
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