Brazilian coral reefs: resilience and vulnerabilities in the face of climate change

• Grant number: 24/05595-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Journalism
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Communications - Journalism and Publishing
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Visentini Kitahara
• Grantee: Aline Aparecida Zanotti
• Host Institution: Centro de Biologia Marinha (CEBIMAR). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Sebastião , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Grupo de Usuários Wikimedia no Brasil, Brazil

Abstract

Climate change is an undeniable reality. The rise in ocean temperature, as well as its acidification, are among the primary stressors to the marine environment. It is widely recognized that corals are directly affected, as evidenced by the phenomenon of bleaching, which occurs when coral endosymbiotic microalgae are expelled by the host in response to thermal anomalies. Currently, a large portion of coral reefs is threatened, not only in Brazil but worldwide. In this context, three research projects based at CEBIMar and funded by FAPESP have corals as the central element of study and seek to enhance our understanding of how Brazilian corals will respond to the climate changes we are experiencing, whether by enduring or adapting. These projects include "Integrating tools and disciplines to understand the future of shallow-water corals in the Western South Atlantic on a changing planet," "Using phylogenetic past to predict climate impacts: symbiosis eco-physiology and accelerated evolution in coral reef conservation," and "Eco-physiological trade-offs of corals living in climate refuges." Overall, these projects are complementary and formally collaborate with various research groups from multiple institutions that collectively aim to understand everything from positive selection signatures that have contributed to the observed coral diversity to their evolutionary correlations, opening new horizons to understand when and how coral characteristics have changed on different time scales. Moreover, they analyze how coral speciation and potential resilience are related to the diversification of bacteria and zooxanthellae, which, together with viruses, archaea, and fungi, constitute the coral microbiome, and how symbiosis with these microorganisms has influenced the evolution of host coral physiology and their adaptations to extreme environments and potentially increased tolerance to climate change. Nevertheless, these projects have the potential to verify the existence of climate refuges for Brazilian coral ecosystems, aiding in conservation strategies against climate change. Besides the significant scientific effort, the uncertain future of corals is a topic that has been generating widespread public concern. In this sense, making both the functioning of science in coral-related research and the threats surrounding these organisms, and consequently the ecosystem, accessible to the public is necessary. Communicating science to the population in this case can not only bring us allies in the conservation of these ecosystems but also can engage society in the importance of scientific development in our country.