Ocean life
Probiotics shielded Red Sea corals from a heat wave
Corals treated with beneficial bacteria did not bleach during a 2022 heat wave off Saudi Arabia, the first sign probiotics may protect reefs in the wild.
Reported by Mongabay · · 1 min read
When a heat wave settled over the Red Sea in 2022, a patch of corals on a reef 15 kilometres off the coast of Saudi Arabia behaved differently from the rest. They had been treated with probiotics, beneficial bacteria isolated from healthy corals, and the treatment kept them from bleaching, scientists now report in Cell Reports.
Raquel Peixoto, a microbial ecologist at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology who led the study, had already shown in tanks that probiotics can stave off bleaching and keep corals alive. These new results are the first to suggest that the approach may also protect corals in the wild during marine heat waves.
The stakes are high. Corals provide habitat for about a third of marine species but are declining at an unprecedented rate, according to the latest report from the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. Rising temperatures break down the partnership between corals and the algae that live in them, which is called bleaching and can kill the coral. Scientists estimate that if global temperatures rise by 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, 70 to 90% of corals will be at risk of severe degradation by 2100.
“Corals can acclimate and adapt, but only if they are alive,” Peixoto said.
