'The presence of corals in these extreme mangrove habitats challenges our understanding of the conditions some corals are capable of living in,' researcher Emma Camp said.
Researchers say they have identified"extreme corals" for the first time in mangrove lagoons around Australia's Great Barrier Reef—a discovery that has implications for reef conservation and challenges our understanding of the conditions corals can tolerate.
"The presence of corals in these extreme mangrove habitats challenges our understanding of the conditions some corals are capable of living in," she said."The extreme mangrove lagoons act as a natural laboratory to allow us to study the mechanisms that support coral resilience to sub-optimal environmental conditions—predicted to become the norm for coral reefs in the future. We can also assess the trade-offs associated with living in harsh environmental conditions.
The two bleaching events were the worst in recorded history, leading to a catastrophic die-off in many regions of the 3,800 individual reefs that comprise the world's largest reef system. In the past 20 years, the Great Barrier Reef has experienced four mass bleaching events . Scientists predict that these could occur twice a decade from 2035 and every year after 2044, under projections based on current greenhouse gas emission trends. This would mean the gap between each shock would shorten, giving the coral less and less time to recover.
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