Corals may move from warming seas

IF their watery world continues to warm as climate change scientists predict, Western Australia's corals may head south to cooler climes. That's the message from US and Australian researchers who compared the behaviour of the state's corals then and now. Since "then" was 125,000 years ago, University of Queensland paleoecologist John Pandolfi and geologist Benjamin Greenstein of Cornell College in Iowa are confident their findings are not a short-term blip. The implication is that conservation managers should help ensure corals have an "escape route" beyond existing parks and protected areas, Professor Pandolfi said. "Paving the way to southern refugia is a step in the right direction for coral conservation," he argued. "These refugia could be very important for re-seeding northern reefs if the environmental conditions return to a more favourable state."

Aust 2 Jan 2008