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Coral reef

A coral reef is a type of biotic reef that develops in tropical waters by the growth of coralline algae, hermatypic corals, and other marine organisms.

Note: The above text is excerpted from the Wikipedia article "Coral reef", which has been released under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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Heat Tolerant Coral May Trade Fast Growth for Resilience

Nov. 17, 2023 — Algae living within the soft tissue of coral supply much of the energy needed by their hosts, and some symbiotic algae help coral withstand warmer water better than others. Researchers have now found ...

Declining Growth Rates of Global Coral Reef Ecosystems

June 11, 2021 — If the trend of declining coral growth continues at the current rate, the world's coral reefs may cease calcifying around 2054, a new study has found. Drawing on research from the late 1960s ...

Ningaloo Corals Are Ill-Equipped to Handle Future Climate Change

June 10, 2022 — The relatively pristine coral populations of WA's inshore Kimberley region are better equipped to survive ocean warming than the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Marine Park, according to a new ...

Major Discovery Helps Explain Coral Bleaching

Jan. 25, 2021 — A scientist has made a major breakthrough in the understanding of coral bleaching -- a process that causes corals to lose their color and eventually leads to their death. The process is triggered by ...

Are New Corals in Sydney Dangerous Invaders or Harmless Refugees?

June 17, 2022 — A new study has found that invading subtropical corals will survive and thrive in coastal Sydney, which could spell trouble for existing Sydney coral ...

Time Running out to Save Coral Reefs

May 10, 2021 — New data on the growth rates of coral reefs shows there is still a window of opportunity to save them from eroding by mid-century -- but time is running ...

World's Deepest Coral Calcification Rates Measured Off Hawaiian Islands

Aug. 16, 2023 — In the waters off the Hawaiian Islands, rates of calcification were measured in the deepest coral ...

Remote Indian Ocean Reefs Bounce Back Quickly After Bleaching

Mar. 24, 2022 — Coral reefs in remote or protected areas can recover quickly after mass coral bleaching events, new research ...

Scientists Believe Evolution Could Save Coral Reefs, If We Let It

Sep. 22, 2022 — Coral reefs can adapt to climate change if given the chance to evolve, according to a ...

Turning the Tables -- How Table Corals Are Regenerating Reefs

June 1, 2021 — New research shows table corals can regenerate coral reef habitats on the Great Barrier Reef decades faster than any other coral type. The research suggests overall reef recovery would slow ...

Plants & Animals News

November 29, 2023

Brittle Stars Can Learn Just Fine -- Even Without a Brain

Nov. 29, 2023 — We humans are fixated on big brains as a proxy for smarts. But headless animals called brittle stars have no brains at all and still manage to learn through experience, new research reveals. These shy marine creatures have no brain to speak of -- ...

Evolution of Taste: Early Sharks Were Able to Perceive Bitter Substances

Nov. 13, 2023 — New genetic data show that humans and sharks share bitter taste receptors, even though their evolutionary pathways separated nearly 500 million years ...

Found at Last: Bizarre, Egg-Laying Mammal Finally Rediscovered After 60 Years

Nov. 9, 2023 — A long-beaked echidna named after Sir David Attenborough and last seen by scientists in 1961 has been photographed for the first time in an Indonesian tropical forest. An international team of ...

How Animals Get Their Stripes and Spots

Nov. 8, 2023 — New research helps explain how sharp patterns form on zebras, leopards, tropical fish and other creatures. Their findings could inform the development of new high-tech materials and ...

Latest Headlines

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600 Years of Tree Rings Reveal Climate Risks in California

Nov. 29, 2023 — The San Joaquin Valley in California has experienced vast variability in climate extremes, with droughts and floods that were more severe and lasted longer than what has been seen in the modern ...

Landscape Dynamics Determine the Evolution of Biodiversity on Earth

Nov. 29, 2023 — A landmark study into the geological timescale distribution of sediment and nutrients over 500 million years shows that species biodiversity on Earth is driven by landscape ...

Newborn Babies at Risk from Bacteria Commonly Carried by Mothers

Nov. 29, 2023 — One in 200 newborns is admitted to a neonatal unit with sepsis caused by a bacteria commonly carried by their mothers -- much greater than the previous estimate, say researchers. The team has ...

Unknown Animals Were Leaving Bird-Like Footprints in Late Triassic Southern Africa

Nov. 29, 2023 — Ancient animals were walking around on bird-like feet over 210 million years ago, according to a new ...

Study of Ancient British Oral Microbiomes Reveals Shift Following Black Death

Nov. 29, 2023 — The Second Plague Pandemic of the mid-14th century, also known as the Black Death, killed 30-60 percent of the European population and profoundly ...

Clever Dosage Control Mechanism of Biallelic Genes

Nov. 29, 2023 — Researchers have uncovered a mechanism that safeguards the biallelic expression of haploinsufficient genes, shedding light on the importance of having two copies of each chromosome. A study ...

Early Humans Hunted Beavers, 400,000 Years Ago

Nov. 29, 2023 — Around 400,000 years ago, early humans hunted beavers as a food resource and possibly also for their pelts.The authors show that Middle Pleistocene humans systematically fed on these smaller animals ...

Bees Are Still Being Harmed Despite Tightened Pesticide Regulations

Nov. 29, 2023 — A new study has confirmed that pesticides, commonly used in farmland, significantly harm bumblebees one of the most important wild pollinators. In a huge study spanning 106 sites across eight ...

Tracing the Evolution of the 'Little Brain'

Nov. 29, 2023 — The evolution of higher cognitive functions in humans has so far mostly been linked to the expansion of the neocortex. Researchers are increasingly realizing, however, that the 'little brain' or ...

Flower Power on Indian Farms Helps Bees and Boosts Livelihoods

Nov. 29, 2023 — Planting flowers beside food crops on farms in India attracts bees, boosts pollination and improves crop yield and quality, researchers have ...