Researchers from the University of Oxford have found new aggressive alga threatening the health of Caribbean coral reefs.
Hurricanes, pollution, disease, bleaching and the effects of an increasingly warmer planet are all negatively impacting the health of coral reefs around the world.
However, those in the Caribbean are facing a new threat — an aggressive, golden-brown, crust-like alga that is rapidly overgrowing shallow reefs.
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The algae, known as peyssonnelid algal crusts (PAC), are taking over the reefs and are interfering with the ability of coral larvae to find places to settle on the reefs, and interfering with the reef’s natural ecosystem.
Dr Bryan Wilson, from Oxford University’s Department of Zoology is art of the next stage of this research is to unravel the alga's complex physiological mechanisms for this ecological success.
Marine biologists ultimately hope to find ways to mitigate against this new threat.
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