Corals are especially vulnerable to damage from ocean acidification, and rising CO2 levels jeopardize the future of coral reefs globally. However, a new study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Queensland report that certain corals may do better than others at withstanding ocean acidification.
The U.S. National Science Foundation-supported study was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Using samples from the Great Barrier Reef, the researchers studied how coral from environments with greater CO2 variability respond to increasing acidification.
Ocean acidification threatens coral because it breaks down the rocky, calcified skeletons that give coral its distinctive structure, says Katie Barott of Penn, senior author of the study. When water CO2 levels surge, corals can no longer grow or maintain their skeletons.
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National Science Foundation, 24 October 2022. Full article.
