Biological sciences professors have investigated how corals specialize to particular environments in the ocean. They propose that the large dispersal potential of coral larvae in open water and the proximity of different species on the ocean floor creates a mystery for researchers who study speciation, asking, "How can new marine species emerge without obvious geographic isolation?"

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Both fish populations and commercial and recreational anglers have benefited from "no-take" protections in the Tortugas Ecological Reserve in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, a new report shows.

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Acanthaster planci is the principle natural enemy of reef-building corals. Outbreaks of this coral-feeding starfish occur periodically, due to reasons that remain unclear. It decimates entire reefs in the space of just a few years, as has been the case in French Polynesia since 2004.

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Coral reefs are predicted to decline under the pressure of global warming. However, a number of coral species can survive at seawater temperatures even higher than predicted for the tropics during the next century. How they survive, while most species cannot, is being investigated.

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Coral reefs build their structures by both producing and accumulating calcium carbonate, and this is essential for the maintenance and continued vertical growth capacity of reefs. Researchers have discovered that the amount of new carbonate being added by Caribbean coral reefs is now significantly below rates measured over recent geological timescales, and in some habitats is as much as 70 percent lower.

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New research has found a mechanism as to how corals use their pink and purple hues as sunscreen to protect them against harmful sunlight. Many reef corals need light to survive, as they benefit from sugars and lipids that are produced by their light-dependent symbiotic algae. However, in the shallow water of coral reefs, light levels are often higher than required by the corals, so paradoxically, the vital sunlight can become harmful for the algae and their hosts.

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In a future shaped by climate change, only the strong -- or heat-resistant -- will survive. A new study opens a window into a genetic process that allows some corals to withstand unusually high temperatures and may hold a key to species survival for organisms around the world.

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Researchers have found that damaged coral colonies can take years to recover their reproductive prowess. Coral colonies that suffered tissue damage in the Bahamas were still producing low numbers of eggs four years after the injuries occurred.

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