Australian biologists from the University of Sydney stated that the biggest threat to corals with global warming is young spiny starfish. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Global Change Biology (GCB).
Crowns of thorns are found in the Great Barrier Reef and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region. They already cause more damage to corals than their other relatives; They are second only to bleaching caused by storms and rising sea temperatures.
During the experiment, young crown of thorns showed surprising heat resistance, higher than their adult counterparts. This means that even with increased heat stress, the threat these animals pose to coral colonies will increase.
“By using a model to measure temperature over time, we found that young crowns of thorns can tolerate almost three times the heat intensity that causes coral bleaching,” said Professor Maria Byrne, who led the study.
Biologists say the disappearance of the crown of thorns’ natural enemies due to overfishing and the accumulation of nutrients in the water are accelerating the spread of the predatory starfish.
Previous scientists discovered disease-resistant “super corals.”