A new joint study by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in Townsville and the University of Texas has found that the Great Barrier Reef can be saved from global warming by planting corals that survive heat stress.

The researchers have affirmed that the discovery could lead to manmade colonies of coral that have been bred to adapt to hotter oceans. University of Texas biologist Mikhail Matz affirmed, “Averting coral extinction begin with something as simple as exchange of coral immigrants across latitudes, which can be jump-started by humans moving adult corals”.

AIMS evolutionary ecologist Line Bay said the study findings can prove highly beneficial when it comes to know more about the potential for coral on the Great Barrier Reef to cope up with the hotter oceans.

For the research, scientists crossed branching coral Acropora millepora with members of same species at Orpheus Island. The branching coral Acropora millepora from the warmer far north of the Great Barrier Reef passed on their heat tolerance to their offspring.

The heat tolerance could be centered in mitochondria, which are said to be the powerhouses of the cells inherited from mothers. Now, researchers want to know the role of mitochondria in heat tolerance. After knowing the role, researchers can make an attempt to restore reefs or make new ones by choosing heat-tolerant corals.

Coral reefs are declining in many parts of the world due to many reasons like pollution, warming seas, disease and storms.