Half of all Caribbean coral species died off 1-2 million years ago because of major environmental changes at that time. Which ones survived, and why?
Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (SRTI) believe genetic diversity was the key. It allowed individuals to survive the changes and birth adapted offspring. Orbicella species are particularly diverse and poised to survive.
"Having a lot of genetic variants is like buying a lot of lottery tickets," said Carlos Prada, lead author of the study and Earl S. Tupper Post-doctoral Fellow at STRI.
Unfortunately, this does not mean that coral reefs as we know them will come through unscathed. Most existing Caribbean reefs may die off within 20 years from pollution and warming.
But it does give hope that these beautiful animals and the reefs they create my reemerge over the long term. Our descendants will know a changed world, but it may still be a beautiful one.
Read more about this research at Science Daily. Or dig into the original science paper in Current Biology.
