Can high-quality coral genomes be used to predict bleaching events? – Science Codex

In a new approach to conservation genetics, researchers used a high-quality genome of the coral Acropora millepora, along with environmental data, to study this coral’s variable responses to climate change, a trait of key conservation importance. Their results, which suggest a unique genetic signature in corals likely to bleach, could be used to forecast potential bleaching events before they occur and to identify the coral populations most vulnerable or tolerant to future climate warming. When …

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