Page 4 - MidWeek Windward - July 28, 2021

4 JULY 28, 2021
Coral May Be Key To Reef Help
The Hawaiian blue rice coral may reveal important clues as to how some spe- cies might weather climate change, according to a team of scientists from the Univer- sity of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and the Smithsonian Institute.
radiation that may be detri- mental to coral reproduction. The findings are published in Nature Scientific Reports.
cally, the blue rice coral had sperm motility typically twice as effective as their partner species, the brown rice coral.
With the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Tech- nology as their research base, the Smithsonian team con- ducted long-term monitoring on coral reproduction of two species in Kāne‘ohe Bay.
Coral reproduce by re- leasing eggs and sperm into the water column. As climate changes and the ocean warms, coral become stressed, affecting their abil- ity to adapt to the changing conditions of the oceans.
“We studied the brown rice coral for several years and witnessed in real time their decline due to bleaching in 2014 and 2015,” states Hen- ley, lead author of the study.
A protein produced by the Hawaiian blue rice coral gives it its blue hue and also acts as a natural sunscreen. Theresearchteamworkedoff the hypothesis that this sun- screen filters out harmful UV
The research team found that after the large-scale bleaching events in 2014 and 2015, sperm motility fell in the monitored species by almost 50%. However, later studies conducted by HIMB Ph.D. candidate Mike Henley and colleagues deter- minedthatthebluericecoral seemed immune to these re- productive changes. Specifi-
“The blue rice coral is often overlooked, and its sperm motility wowed us the very first time we saw it. While the brown rice coral lagged behind in recovery from bleaching, the blue rice coral either recovered very quickly, or perhaps it was never impacted at all. Hope- fully, this work will reveal clues to help other corals weather climate change and ocean warming.”
Kristin Rivera and Christy Paulino enjoy an iced beverage from ChadLou’s Coffee Roasters in Kailua.
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