Project: Investigating coral bleaching in a changing climate: Our state of understanding and mapping opportunities to push the field forward

NSF award abstract:
Reef building corals are highly reliant on a group of symbiotic algae that live within their bodies and provide a major source of food from photosynthesis. Over the past 30 years, scientists have studied the phenomenon of coral bleaching, wherein periodic exposure to warm water temperatures leads to a mass expulsion of these important symbiotic algae, which may lead to a loss in coral health and even death. There is now significant concern that as warming of the earth continues, global coral bleaching events will occur with greater frequency and severity. While scientists have gained a better understanding of coral bleaching, there remain many unanswered questions as to if reef corals can withstand future bleaching events and what particular areas should researchers focus on moving forward. In many cases bleaching studies are reactionary in nature and occur once a stress event has begun. The goal of this project is to bring together a subset of coral biologists within the U.S. to convene a workshop in order to review the current state of knowledge on this topic. The primary outcome of this meeting will be to evaluate and discuss critical knowledge gaps, and to identify areas of research and specific questions that may deliver important data for future bleaching research. Reef building corals are ecosystem engineers that support one of the most diverse ecosystems on earth that holds enormous biological and economic value. The efforts of this workshop will allow participants, as well as the broader scientific community, to evaluate and suggest new approaches for tackling the study of coral bleaching. Participants will include several scientific leaders in coral biology in the U.S., as well as postdoctoral fellows and advanced graduate students, all of which encompass a range of investigators, including those from underrepresented groups.

The cellular, physiological, ecological and evolutionary responses of reef corals (and their constituent symbionts and other microbial partners) to climate change can be quite complex. As current projections of continued global warming may lead to annual episodes of wide-spread bleaching, there is a pressing need for continued intensive research in this area. While significant advancements have been made, many recent discoveries have required more complex interpretations of the bleaching response, indicating a lack of a full understanding of the root causes and consequences of bleaching, patterns of recovery, and especially how (or if) some corals and reefs may withstand thermal anomalies into the future. There is a fundamental need for scientists from very different specialties to combine their collective expertise in order to formulate new approaches to investigating coral bleaching. The objective of this project is to convene a workshop consisting of a core group of U.S. investigators that are currently examining different aspects of coral bleaching. The project has three central goals. First, to review and assess the current state and trajectory of coral bleaching research across different scientific disciplines. Second, to evaluate and discuss specific knowledge gaps and integration across these disciplines. Lastly, participants will develop a white paper designed to identify critical areas of research and prioritize specific questions, concepts, and approaches that could deliver new and important data and provide a framework for future bleaching research into the next decade.

Products produced from this award include the following white paper, the final report from the Workshop on Coral Bleaching, 17-18 June 2016:
Investigating Coral Bleaching in a Changing Climate: Our State of Understanding and Opportunities to Push the Field Forward (PDF)