UAE team wins $1m funding boost for climate-busting corals plan – The National

UAE team wins $1m funding boost for climate-busting corals plan – The National

UAE climate researchers have secured a $1 million funding boost to support vital efforts to protect coral reefs against the impact of surging ocean temperatures.The key investment will enable the Mubadala Arabian Centre for Climate and Environmental Sciences, based at New York University Abu Dhabi, to carry out two years of work on a marine project focused on ensuring corals can continue to thrive in challenging waters.The grant was provided by Dalio Philanthropies, a charitable organisation with a long-standing interest in protecting the world's oceans.The two-year project, led by Dr John Burt, NYUAD's associate professor of biology, will explore selection and crossbreeding of heat-resistant corals in the Arabian Gulf with heat-sensitive corals found elsewhere to produce corals that can better withstand climate change.Corals are a crucial part of nature's ecosystem, offering shoreline protection and providing habitat for marine life.As waters warm and ocean chemistry changes due to increased carbon dioxide levels, corals around the world are experiencing more frequent bleaching and loss.However, corals in the Arabian Gulf have proved to be able to survive at significantly higher temperatures.In initial experiments, Dr Burt’s team found that crossbreeding UAE corals with Indian Ocean corals could lead to an 84 per cent higher