Corals, communities and climate change

How can we know which corals around the world are going to cope best with climate change? One idea is to spot them from space. An international research project called Climate REEFS maps the properties of adaptive reefs in the Philippines and Indonesia, identifying reefs with similar characteristics using satellite imagery.

More complex reefs appear more able to adapt to climate change, as they are more likely to have adaptive corals within that diversity. We want to look in detail at what makes these reefs special and work with local communities to understand their relationship with these reefs as well.

—Professor Maria Beger

Impact

• Environmental monitoring using satellites to increase understanding of climate change adaptation
• Global partnerships creating equitable knowledge exchange.

Key information

• Major funders: UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) programme
• Partners and collaborators: University of Pattimura, Rare
• Disciplines: biology, climate change
• Investigators: Professor Maria Beger.

Keywords: Amazon Rainforest, trees, climate tipping point, environment, global warming, tree mortality, global partnerships, collaboration, policy change, data collection, drought