'Controlled Infections' May Be Corals’ Secret Weapon Against Climate Change, New Study Reveals

'Controlled Infections' May Be Corals’ Secret Weapon Against Climate Change, New Study Reveals

'Controlled Infections' May Be Corals’ Secret Weapon Against Climate Change, New Study Reveals Researchers compared how genetically similar populations of Pocillopora corals cope with heat stress in Panama’s Gulf of Panama and Gulf of Chiriquí, both on the Pacific coast. The team looked at the entire holobiont — the coral’s symbionts, microbiome and physiology — in addition to its genome and environment, finding that the holobiont may play an outsized role in boosting the corals’ ability to cope with heat extremes. The team found that corals exposed to upwelling in the Gulf of Panama were better able to withstand higher temperatures, thanks in part to their microbiomes. The work points to the importance of better understanding how symbiotic relationships and microbiomes interact with corals to increase their resilience. As ocean temperatures set new heat records, coral reef scientists are on a mission to identify which species and reefs can tolerate heat stress the best. But how an…