Could lab-evolved algae help save some corals from bleaching?

Enlarge / These pale corals were bleached by high temperatures. (credit: CSIRO)

The outlook for coral reefs in our warming world is truly dismal. The latest IPCC report stated that more than 99 percent of coral reefs will likely be lost if the world warms by 2C-a level we are still on track to exceed. The Great Barrier Reef has given us a preview of this future in recent years, with bleaching due to marine heatwaves in 2016, 2017, and 2020.

Claims about small-scale conservation steps like artificial reef habitat creation or coral-safe sunscreen lotion frequently appear with descriptions ranging from hopeful to breathless. But the reality is that these things are dwarfed in importance by the real problem-climate change.

Still, a team led by CSIRO's Patrick Buerger wondered if there might be a way to help, at least to some extent, by raising heat-tolerant strains of the corals' symbionts. And the good news is that there may be.

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