Sign In
Learn bits
Science & Tech.
Pradeep Kumar

13/06/21 11:00 AM IST

Hardy corals

Context

Why do some corals withstand climate change better than others? In 2014 and 2015, the brown rice coral in Hawaii was completely bleached, but the blue rice coral recovered quickly after bleaching, and blue coral was unaffected by the elevated ocean temperatures.

The research
  • Researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, U.S., have now decoded the reason for this resilience.
  • Hawaiian blue rice corals have a deep blue pigment derived from algae called zooxanthellae that live inside the coral tissue.
  • The researchers found that these algae produce sunscreen for the coral.
  • This pigment has a protein named chromoprotein which filters out harmful UV radiation The findings of this study were published this week in Scientific Reports.
  • After the 2014 and 2015 Hawaii bleaching events, the blue rice coral was found to have exceptional reproductive vigour at 90% motility. But the brown coral's motility was only half this.
  • A key factor in the blue rice coral's ability to reproduce successfully might be its sunscreen pigment, which the coral may retain even if it bleaches.
Source: The Hindu

More Related Current Affairs View All

05 May

Key objectives of caste count

'The Union Cabinet has decided that the next Census will include questions on caste to its enumeration of India’s population, for the first time in almost a century. ' T

Read More

05 May

2 new genome-edited rice varieties

'Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently released two genome-edited varieties of rice, the first achievement of its kind in the country.' These two varieties, which

Read More

05 Mar

First-ever comprehensive survey of India’s river dolphins

'Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the results of the first-ever comprehensive population estimation of riverine dolphins – Gangetic and Indus dolphins – done in In

Read More

India’s First Ai-Driven Magazine Generator

Generate Your Custom Current Affairs Magazine using our AI in just 3 steps