Scientists have developed a treatment for the white plague disease that infects coral based on a medication developed to treat bacterial infections in humans. The therapy ceased the progression of infection in diseased corals and prevented the infection from spreading to surrounding healthy corals as well.

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Marine conservationists have identified heat-tolerant coral species living in locations with continuous background temperature variability as those having the best chance of surviving climate change, according to a new simplified method for measuring coral reef resilience.

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Researchers have made a discovery that challenges a major theory in the field of coral reef ecology. The general assumption has been that the more flexible corals are, regarding which species of single-celled algae they host in coral tissues, the greater ability corals will have to survive environmental stress. However, scientists documented that the more flexible corals are, the more sensitive to environment disturbances they are.

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Coral from the eastern Pacific rarely crosses a deep-ocean barrier to reach the west coast of the Americas, according to new research. The finding has important implications for climate-change research, species-preservation efforts, and the economic stability of the eastern Pacific region, including the Galapagos, Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador.

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A new study has found that locally managed marine protected areas within Fiji are playing an increasingly important role in the nation’s strategy to protect inshore habitats.

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Life in the world's oceans faces far greater change and risk of large-scale extinctions than at any previous time in human history, a team of the world's leading marine scientists has warned. The researchers have compared events which drove massive extinctions of sea life in the past with what is observed to be taking place in the seas and oceans globally today.

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Researcher have found that an imbalance of nutrients in reef waters can increase the bleaching susceptibility of reef corals. Corals are made up of many polyps that jointly form a layer of living tissue covering the calcareous skeletons. They depend on single-celled algae called zooxanthellae, which live within the coral polyps. The coral animal and the associated zooxanthellae depend on each other for survival in a symbiotic relationship, where the coral supplies the algae with nutrients and a place to live. In turn, the algae offer the coral some products of their photosynthesis, providing them with an important energy source. High water temperatures can block photosynthetic reactions in the algal cells causing a build-up of toxic oxygen compounds, which threaten the coral and can result in a loss of the zooxanthellae.

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Coral Reefs has published online a study about an invasive species of brittle star. The species was previously restricted to Pacific waters, but surprisingly, growing populations have established themselves at distant points in the Atlantic. Its presence near Brazilian and Caribbean ports indicates that O. mirabilis could have been spread by shipping.

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