Corals could resist climate change: study

ABC News 8 Dec 07;

Research scientists are looking at whether coral reefs may be able to develop mechanisms to better cope with the effects of climate change.

The joint study has been carried out by scientists from Queen's University in Canada and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Principal research scientist with the institute, Julian Caley, says they have developed a new theoretical model that suggests there is nothing to prevent corals evolving greater resistance to warm water bleaching.

He says the research does not indicate corals are safe from climate change but it does open up new lines of inquiry.

"I would think that this model, if it's developed further will get to a point where we can start to make quantitative predictions about how fast corals can evolve and there will certainly be some management implications of that," he said.