The seemingly restored bleached corals are still "internally" sick

Science and Technology Daily Beijing, February 8 (Reporter Zhang Mengran) "appearance" seems to restore the bleached coral, in fact, "inside" is still sick? Four years after bleaching, changes in physiological function can still be detected in corals, even if they appear to have recovered, according to a new study of marine science published Wednesday in the British journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. The results of the study may be useful for the conservation and management of coral reefs.
by climate change are becoming more frequent and pose a serious threat to the world's coral reefs. When corals overheat, algae symbly no longer exist, leaving only white coral tissue. In other words, it is warming that causes corals to excrete the symbient algae that provide nutrients in their tissues, which leads to coral bleaching.
scientists have now confirmed that coral bleaching can cause very serious damage to the health and functioning of coral reef ecosystems. Bleaching makes corals more susceptible to hunger, disease and death, and while some algae can make corals more resistant to high temperatures, some studies have shown that bleached corals need water temperatures to return to normal before they can regain their algae and recover. Algae symblobacters can be replanted, and the coral's "appearance" may seem to recover from bleaching, but the long-term effects on coral health have not been fully recognized.
, researchers Ford Drury, Robert Quini and colleagues at Michigan State University sampled rose corals during a severe bleaching incident in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, in 2015. They recorded which corals were bleached and which were not. Four years later, they tested the metabolites of the same group of corals, small molecules produced by these organisms in various physiological processes. The team found that corals that appeared to recover from bleaching continued to increase in both saturated fatty acids and immune response molecules. They validated the results by exposing corals with different bleaching histories to experimental temperature stresses.
Corals may have multiple ways to survive a long-term heat wave, and they may be able to resist bleaching or "seem" to recover from it, but these pathways are influenced by their symbial relationships on the one hand, and their improved appearance on the other does not really mean that "inner" is healthy.
also believe that testing corals' metabolic groups, or a cost-effective shortcut, could be used to find heat-resistant corals that can regenerate damaged coral reefs.