Palau Reefs Tolerant to Extreme Marine Heatwaves, New Study Reveals

Heat waves and changing weather patterns have greatly affected coral reefs around the world and contributed to coral bleaching. Corals have algae-like zooxanthellae that live in their tissue, which gives the coral its color. Coral bleaching is a stress response when the zooxanthellae are expelled from the tissue and it becomes transparent, exposing their white skeleton.

New studies being performed in the Palau Rock Islands showed corals are heat resistant. The Porites Corals in the Rock Islands thrive in higher temperatures and shows less bleaching than corals in other parts of the world. Due to these corals being so resilient it is essential to protect the reefs of Palau so researchers can further study them and find out exactly why the corals are heat resistant in the hopes they can help corals around the world also become protected against bleaching. To learn more please read Nature World News’ article Palau Reefs Tolerant to Extreme Marine Heatwaves, New Study Reveals | Nature World News