As temperatures increase and bleaching events are on the rise, researchers are attempting to determine what coral characteristics might help the sensitive animals survive in warmer oceans. According to a release from Ohio State University, a coral\u2019s fat content is a key component to its survival in conditions of increased temperature stress. <\/p>\n
Researchers found a direct correlation between the typical fat content of a species and whether it was able to survive and thrive after a bleaching event. Bleaching events result from environmental stress on corals, which cause them to release symbiotic algae that produce energy, causing color loss and sometimes death. <\/p>\n
Researchers tested three coral types: finger coral, boulder coral and Mustard hill coral. Finger coral stored the most fat; boulder coral had an intermediate fat amount; and Mustard hill coral had the least. After two experimental cycles of bleaching, it was found that finger coral recovered the best; boulder coral somewhat less well; and Mustard hill seemed to be the least resilient. <\/p>\n
Top image:\u00a0Orbicella faveolata, also known as boulder coral or mountainous coral, in the Caribbean coral reef. (Credit: Verena Schoepf \/ University of Western Australia)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As temperatures increase and bleaching events are on the rise, researchers are attempting to determine what coral characteristics might help the sensitive animals survive in warmer oceans. According to a release from Ohio State University, a coral\u2019s fat content is a key component to its survival in conditions of increased temperature stress. Researchers found a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":23970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,44],"tags":[141,103,347,342],"class_list":["post-23971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-oceans-coasts","tag-coral","tag-news-2","tag-oceans-coasts","tag-ohio-state-university"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\n