New 'super' corals to tackle climate change?

Scientists in a research centre in Hawaii are developing new 'super' corals in an attempt to tackle the escalating problem of coral bleaching. It is hoped that these new corals will be better able to cope with warmer and increasingly acidic waters which are occurring as a result of global warming.

The team, led by Ruth Gates (director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology) on the 29 acre Coconut Island, gradually expose corals that have already been identified as having strong genes to water which mimics the changing conditions of the ocean. In addition, they are also breeding more resistant coral with each other in order to enhance the traits of future strains in a process known as assisted evolution.

Although the theory has been used on other animals and plants, this is the first time it has been applied to coral. It's the team's hope that the new resilient corals will grow healthily and reproduce next summer however, they know that success on a local scale doesn't necessarily mean reproducibility on a global scale which is ultimately what is needed to address the problem of coral bleaching. It has been estimated that 30% of the world's coral reefs have already been lost as a result of the combined effects of warmer waters, acidification and the effects of El Nino.

Although leading marine biologists from NOAA suggest the project is scalable, there are doubts as to whether it can be implemented quickly enough...can we save our coral reefs before it's too late?

Juvenile 'super' corals ready for transplantation (Source:http://d1udmfvw0p7cd2.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/f-coral-a-20151107.jpg)