Living evidence of a fossil survival strategy raises hope for warming-affected corals.

ABSTRACT: Climate change is affecting reef-building corals worldwide, with little hope for recovery. However, coral fossils hint at the existence of environmental stress-triggered survival strategies unreported in extant colonial corals. We document the living evidence and long-term ecological role of such a survival strategy in which isolated polyps from coral colonies affected by warming adopt a transitory resistance phase, in turn expressing a high recovery capacity in dead colony areas. Such processes have been described in fossil corals as rejuvenescence but were previously unknown in extant reef-builder corals. Our results based on 16 years of monitoring show the significance of this process for unexpected recoveries of coral colonies severely affected by warming. These findings provide a link

SUBMITTER: Kersting DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6785258 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature