According to recent research, 50% of the world’s coral reefs have already been destroyed. Furthermore, the scientific community estimates that over 90% of coral reefs will die by 2050 due to climate change and direct human impact. Reef death carries dire consequences for wildlife and the homes, health, and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people: those who fish, work in tourism and dwell on low-lying islands rely on the reef’s survival. Coral reefs protect coasts against storm surges, waves, and erosion. Reefs reduce wave energy by 97% while being one of the most biodiverse ecosystems, supporting a third of all marine life. In this bleak outlook, a group of scientists from the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat, Israel (I.U.I.), have discovered a rare ray of hope. Corals in the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba and the northern Red Sea may survive and even thrive into the next century. In fact, this region might host one of the last remaining complete coral reef ecosystems by 2100.

Human-produced carbon dioxide traps heat within Earth’s atmosphere and warms our planet, known as the ‘Greenhouse Effect’. Astonishingly, the ocean has absorbed approximately 90% of the excess heat generated by human-caused global warming, according to the 2019 Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But, even if greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced today, the ocean will continue to warm at an alarming rate for decades. 

Corals typically live in nutrient-poor, tropical waters. Here, symbiotic algae in the coral tissues may provide up to 100% of the coral’s energy requirements by transferring sugar produced during photosynthesis. Acute ocean warming stresses corals, leading to a breakdown in their relationship with the algae. Without the brown algae, corals appear a ghostly white as the limestone skeleton is seen through the coral’s transparent tissue. In this state, the coral animal is alive but essentially starving. The water temperature must return to normal for the coral-algae symbiosis to recover. If temperatures remain elevated, there is a high likelihood of coral death. As global warming intensifies, such ‘coral bleaching’ events become more frequent and severe. The current warming rate is so rapid that many long-lived animals, such as corals, fail to adapt to the changing environment.

And yet, despite sea temperatures rising faster in the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba than the global average, the coral reefs at this northernmost point of the Red Sea exhibit remarkable resistance to the effects of global warming. Corals in this region do not exhibit the expected bleaching response when exposed to high temperatures either in nature or in scientific experiments.