As the planet warms and experts point to a catastrophic bleaching event in the Great Barrier Reef, there is some sort of hope for the marine ecosystem in the Indian Ocean.
New research has revealed that in the Indian Ocean, there is a coral superhighway, which is formed due to ocean currents carrying larvae between distant islands spread over a million square kilometers, forming new coral reefs.
Genetic analyses and oceanographic modeling discovered that the superhighway developing around Seychelles is an island nation in the Indian Ocean. The study confirmed recent gene flow between all sample sites – possibly within just a few generations – mentioning that coral larvae may be often transferred between different populations.
The team then combined the genetic findings with oceanographic modeling to simulate the larvae distribution, which provided a visual of the pathways coral larvae take to travel between reefs across the wider region.
Dr April Burt, lead author of the study said that this discovery is very important because a main factor in coral reef recovery is larval supply. Even though corals have declined alarmingly across the world because of climate change and many other factors, at local and national scales, actions can be taken to improve reef health and resilience.
The team also mentioned that since the distribution is likely because of the connectivity of the islands, and in Seychelles and most probably in East Africa there could be centrally located coral reefs, that may play an important role in connecting the most remote islands.
These simulations also give us to investigate how regular these connectivity patterns are in time because a regular larval supply will be important for reef recovery in the face of climate change, says Dr Noam Vogt-Vincent, who led the simulation.
The researchers mentioned that this information could help to find out major larval sources to be prioritized for inclusion in marine protected areas or active reef restoration efforts.
All over the world, coral reefs are under dire threat from mass bleaching events. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) has said that this incident is quite a worrying trend of heat stress collected during the summer, which affects the biologically rich ecosystem off the northeastern coast of Australia.
The situation is further aggravated by the El Nino phenomenon, which is known for causing warmer ocean waters. Atmospheric Administration and the US National Oceanic have warned of a potential fourth mass coral bleaching event on the horizon.
