Stanford scientists say they've found a fast way to help bleached coral recover. Bleached coral recovered after it touched a healthy piece of itself.

What they found

  • Bleached fragments of Pocillopora coral were placed in contact with healthy fragments from the same genet, meaning clones of the same coral.
  • The tissue fused, which let the coral's symbiotic algae move into the bleached fragment.
  • One week of contact, and sometimes as little as three days, was enough. The bleached coral recovered in about seven weeks in the lab.
  • When the coral touched pieces from a different genet, it didn't recover. Those pairings had antagonistic interactions instead.

What's next

Lead author Daniel Collins and his colleagues published the study on Oct. 14 in Science Advances. The tests were done in the lab, and the next step is to find out whether the method works at larger scale on real reefs. Stanford says the team is also exploring ways to deliver the algae without direct contact.