Customized medicine for corals

Peixoto, Raquel S., Sweet, Michael, and Bourne, David G. (2019) Customized medicine for corals. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6. 686.

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Abstract

[Extract] Coral reefs are facing unprecedented pressures, on a global scale. Alarming declines in coral abundance and diversity are occurring across the majority of reef systems, driven by the cumulative impacts of local stressors and rapidly changing climate (Hughes et al., 2017, 2018). Increases in the greenhouse gas emission (GGE) rates are linked with marine heatwaves which cause mass coral bleaching events, a phenomenon reported as the main threat to coral reefs into the future (Sweet and Brown, 2016). The recent global coral bleaching event from 2014 to 2017 resulted in extensive mortality impacting reef functioning in ways not previously recorded (Eakin et al., 2019). The knock-on effects of this global environmental extreme are still playing out with recent assessment on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) demonstrating drastic declines in coral recruitment, which may fundamentally change the ecosystem dynamics across this region into the future (Hughes et al., 2019). In addition, regional stressors such as overfishing, poor water quality, and pollution can also severely affect the health state of corals and reefs (Shaver et al., 2018). Most agree that the reduction of GGE rates is the priority to ensure the persistence of coral reef ecosystems, however under current GGE projections, annual mass coral bleaching events are expected to occur as early as 2050 (National Academies of Science, Engineering and National Academies of Sciences, 2018). Even if GGE emissions are significantly reduced, further decline of reef health appears unavoidable due to the current accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the predicted lag period before any change will be observed (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007; National Academies of Sciences, 2018). This poses a major problem to those caring for and managing reef ecosystems.

Item ID: 61676
Item Type: Article (Editorial)
ISSN: 2296-7745
Keywords: assisted evolution, coral, coral reefs, customized medicine, global change, probiotics, restoration
Copyright Information: © 2019 Peixoto, Sweet and Bourne. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Date Deposited: 08 Sep 2020 01:37
FoR Codes: 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0605 Microbiology > 060599 Microbiology not elsewhere classified @ 50%
05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0599 Other Environmental Sciences > 059999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified @ 50%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 100%
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