"Good News for Reefs: How Corals Could Survive a Heating Planet"

"New genetics research shows how cold-water corals can increase their resilience to global warming at a pace that could match climate change."

"As concern grows over the threat coral reefs face from pollution, destructive fishing practices, and especially climate change and ocean acidification, a research team has found that heat-tolerant corals pass along that tolerance to corals adapted to cooler waters.   

One of the key questions regarding heat tolerance is the extent to which it is genetically inherited or whether the corals build an ability to endure heat stress through repeated exposure, a process analogous to hardening tomato plants.

If the trait is inherited, it could provide a mechanism for what the team dubs "genetic rescue," in which natural crossbreeding between warmer- and cooler-water corals gives the cool-water variants the genetic tools they need to cope with rising ocean temperatures, at least for a while."

Pete Spotts reports for the Christian Science Monitor June 25, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

"Then And Now: Coral Comparisons Offer Clues To Changing Climate" (Daily Climate)