A new study published today in Nature Climate Change finds coral reefs are under threat from ocean acidification.
The study was led by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE). Their results suggest some corals and coralline algae—the ‘glue’ that holds reefs together—cannot survive the expected more acidic oceans caused by climate change.
“The results validate previous research on ocean acidification threats to coral reefs,” said lead author Dr Steeve Comeau, who is now based at the Sorbonne Université CNRS Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche sur Mer in France.
Co-author Prof Malcolm McCulloch, from Coral CoE at the University of Western Australia, said the researchers examined the calcifying fluid of four species of coral and two types of coralline algae under a year-long simulation.
Read more at ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
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