Scientists are to carry out an unprecedented assessment of the response and resilience of mesophotic coral ecosystems - coral reef communities found at depths of between 30m and 150m in tropical regions - to the temperature shifts predicted under future climate change.
Over the next five years, the groundbreaking project will focus on these deeper coral reef communities below the surface of the Indian Ocean and employ a number of methods to assess their vulnerability to climate change.
In addition to assessing the threats they face, the project will also seek to inform ways the reefs can be protected now and in the future.
The project starts in February 2026, and is being led by experts in marine biology and oceanography from the University of Plymouth, with a core team also including experts in coral reef biodiversity from Imperial College London and specialists in numerical modelling at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML). They are being supported by a grant of £3.7million from the Natural Environment Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation.
Through their previous work in the Indian Ocean, researchers from the University of Plymouth previously uncovered the deepest known evidence of coral reef bleaching. However, there are still fundamental gaps in knowledge and understanding around the diversity, distribution, environmental conditions and vulnerability of deeper coral ecosystems.
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