In Photos: Coral Species May Adapt to Warmer Waters

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Corals and heat tolerance

An image of corals

(Image credit: Image courtesy of Steve Palumbi)

Warmer waters

An image of corals

(Image credit: Image courtesy of Steve Palumbi)

Researchers took branches of coral called Acropora hyacinthus from tide pools of different temperatures and found that the branches taken from a warmer tide pool fared better in a heat-stress test than branches taken from a slightly cooler pool.

Coral survival

An image of corals

(Image credit: Image courtesy of Steve Palumbi)

The results show that corals that live in warmer waters do develop a better ability than cooler-water corals to survive in the face of rising temperatures — a sign that corals can adapt over time to a changing environment, according to the researchers.

Colonies that adjust

An image of corals

(Image credit: Image courtesy of Steve Palumbi)

"We found that [all] these coral colonies can adjust their physiology to become more heat tolerant," said study author Stephen Palumbi, a professor at Stanford University.

Coral physiology and genetics

An image of corals

(Image credit: Image courtesy of Steve Palumbi)

"We were able to show that corals that live naturally in a warmer environment have the right genes to be able to do even better in that warmer environment," Palumbi said. "But even the cold-water living corals had the ability to adjust their physiology to be more heat-tolerant," he said.