A new study suggests corals may be able to cope with climate change in the coming decades better than previously thought.

Lead author Kevin Bairos-Novak is a PhD candidate at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, Australia. He said the rate at which corals can adapt to climate change depends on what is passed down from their parents.

Corals are made up of hundreds and thousands of tiny creatures called polyps and each one secretes a hard outer skeleton of calcium carbonate that attaches either to rock or the dead skeletons of other polyps. According the US National Ocean Service, coral reefs are the largest structures of biological origin on Earth, but many are in decline.

Bairos-Novak said: “We looked at all previous coral studies examining what is called ‘heritability’ and this allowed us to look at how parent corals’ survival under environmental stress is likely to be passed down, through genes, to their offspring,

“We found their ability to pass on adaptive traits is maintained despite increasing temperatures. In particular, corals that are better than average at survival, growth and resisting bleaching stress under future ocean conditions should be good at passing those advantages on to their offspring.”

However, while the study is good news, the authors warn that making the most of this capacity for adaptation will require reducing the current rate of global warming.

Co-author professor Sean Connolly from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama said: “Climate change is rapidly intensifying across the globe. Adapting to change means a species can persist in an altered environment for longer.

“But as new conditions arise, evolution needs time to generate new variation in coral traits, such as temperature tolerance, which can then spread in the population if they are beneficial. So, if we can curb climate change, and stabilise temperatures, many coral species will have a shot at adapting to warmer temperatures.”

Summing up the research, Bairos-Novak said: “Our findings show that corals are fighters. They are good at passing beneficial traits onto the next generation and the next, helping them cope with the stresses they face. This is what may help them navigate the next few decades better than we previously thought.”

Findings from the research into coral adaptation to climate change can be read here 10.1111/gcb.15829