Reefs Under Siege

Coral reefs, often lauded as the rainforests of the sea, are buckling under the cumulative strain of warming oceans and acidification. When water temperatures climb, corals expel the symbiotic algae that lend them both colour and sustenance, a distress response known as bleaching. A reef stripped of its algae is not necessarily dead, but it is perilously weakened and vulnerable to starvation. Yet amid the gloom, marine biologists have identified pockets of unusually resilient coral that endure conditions fatal to their neighbours. By studying the genetic underpinnings of this hardiness, researchers hope to cultivate strains capable of withstanding a hotter future. It is a race against time, and the outcome is far from assured.