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"Since the 1960s, people have been talking about how the open ocean can get only so hot," Kleypas said. Terry Hughes, an Australian reef specialist at James Cook University who was not involved in the research, called the study "novel" and said it shows some parts of the ocean could serve as a refuge for reefs as oceans warm. "An exciting inference is that warm-adapted strains of corals are less likely to bleach," Hughes said in an e-mail interview. Larvae from coral in tropical areas "could potentially migrate to cooler areas that are warming rapidly," he said. He said similar migrations occurred during rapid warming periods in the past. Coral reefs face a myriad of threats, including overfishing, coastal development, pollution, and changes to ocean chemistry caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But Kleypas said global warming is among the most dire since it causes ocean temperatures to rise, leading to coral bleaching. Unless the ocean quickly cools, allowing algae to grow again, bleached corals often collapse and die. Up to 40 percent of reefs have been hit by bleaching since 1980, Kleypas said.
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