Studying marine conservation is hard. Marine ecosystems are degrading. Coral reefs are bleaching: by 2060, without significant emissions reductions, mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef could be an annual event.
Coral bleaching occurs when the coral becomes heat-stressed and ejects or loses its coloured symbionts. Coral cannot survive without these photosynthetic microalgae, which live inside the coral tissue and provide it with sugars in return for a stable home.
For ten years, the team at AIMS has been growing coral symbionts in the laboratory while gradually raising the heat. Each time the symbionts adapt, we push the temperature up a bit. They can now survive a constant 31â°C, a condition not experienced anywhere on the Great Barrier Reef.
Our hope is that, if the reef ever needs to be replenished, the corals we deploy will be able to withstand future heat stress, thanks to our experimentally evolved symbionts.
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