Under the stress of climate change, researchers aim to replant healthy coral to revive failing reefs. Some transplant coral wither and die, while others take root and thrive.
It has been a mystery as to why some coral thrive and others fail. The key to successful coral transplantation was revealed in a study led by researchers at the USC.
It's critical to solve the mystery in order to restore dying reefs with transplants of coral, according to a USC professor. Saving reefs is still an imperative.
Half of Earth's coral reefs have been lost since 1950. A billion people benefit from reef environments, and the U.S. economy alone gains $3.4 billion per year from them.
Do you mean the one or the many?
Kenkel's transplant research is centered on the Caribbean Staghorn coral.
Before the current study, scientists used different individual staghorn coral at different transplant sites and found some out plants were better at certain locations than others. They were unable to determine the reason for success or failure because they used different coral at different places.
Kenkel said that they didn't know if the coral were poor performers because of the poor environment or if they were poor performers because of the poor environment.
The number of variables was reduced in order to find the answer. They used clones and transplants at nine well-known reef sites in the Florida Keys. They tracked the outplant's growth, shape and size at each location.
The coral and environment mattered to them. There was no one clone that was strong across all environments.
Kenkel said that this is important information for reef restoration. The genetic diversity of coral transplants will be important for hedging our bets. Researchers will want to use a variety of individuals to make sure that one can adapt to their new home.
Diversifying your portfolio is safer than betting big on one company because others will win, she said.
She said that maximizing genetic diversity is a better approach than looking for a single coral to save the day.
Bets on one'super coral' to succeed are riskier than bets on coral outplants. There will be winners and sinners. As the climate continues to change, reefs are going to be even more different.
The coral is plastic.
Scientists will want to focus on how individual coral can be adapted to different environments, meaning how much an individual can change its shape, size and other characteristics in response to changing environmental factors.
Climate change may affect the chances of long-term success of out plants.
"We found that some coral were more plastic than others, and the most plastic coral, those that were able to grow biggest when it made sense to be big at a certain site or stay smallest when that was a benefit, were actually the ones who survived the best on average," Kenkel
According to the study first author, coral plasticity isn't a substitute for addressing climate change at its root.
He said that adaptive plasticity is not a magic bullet for coral and can't replace the goal of reversing the effects of climate change.
What are you going to do next?
Kenkel's team wants to understand what gives coral its plasticity and how it might affect future transplant efforts.
We're going to be asking if there are any drawbacks to a coral being more plastic. Kenkel said it's possible it doesn't show up in their lifetime.
Million finds it particularly interesting that they'll be studying how coral plasticity affects the function of the whole reef as well as what's happening at a cellular andmolecular level to enable the coral to grow.
He said that the most pertinent next steps include identifying the genetic basis of this plasticity and if it belongs to the animal host or the algal symbiont.
A relationship known as "symbiosis" exists between coral and the tiny organisms that live in them. The coral are provided with food and other benefits by the algae.
Understanding the genetics of both organisms will help scientists predict how coral's plasticity will change with changing climate conditions.
The researchers on the study include Kenkel and Million.
There is evidence for adaptive morphological plasticity in the Caribbean coral. 10.1073/pnas.
Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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