Dr Emily Howells of New York University Abu Dhabi who is researching coral reefs and how they are affected by increasing temperatures. Courtesy Dr Emily Howells.
Dr Emily Howells of New York University Abu Dhabi who is researching coral reefs and how they are affected by increasing temperatures. Courtesy Dr Emily Howells.

New study hopes to find that coral reefs in the Gulf adapt to heat



While the effects of global warming on the polar ice sheets have been widely debated, closer to home, coral reefs are likely to be affected by rising temperatures too.

New York University Abu Dhabi researcher Dr Emily Howells wants to understand how these beautiful but delicate organisms respond to heat. And the results of her work could indicate how corals will react if, as expected, temperatures rise several degrees Celsius over the coming century.

Corals are already suffering badly as a result of climate change through “bleaching” and widespread dying off during hot summers, and the consequences for wider marine ecosystems around the world are severe. Corals provide food and places to live for fish and hundreds of other marine organisms - creatures that would suffer if corals die.

“You need living coral habitats to support the whole ecosystem,” said Dr Howells.

In her new study, Dr Howells, who cut her teeth as a marine biologist studying corals off her native Australia, will look at whether corals reared in warmer environments are better able to tolerate high temperatures than those of the same species grown in cooler conditions.

Previous work by Dr Howells, carried out with researchers at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi and Oregon State University in the United States, demonstrated that corals have adapted genetically to warmer conditions. This was indicated by there being genetic differences between corals living off Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island (in the very warm Arabian Gulf) and corals off Fujairah (in the slightly milder Gulf of Oman).

The latest study will look at whether, on top of this ability to evolve to cope with higher temperatures, corals can adapt physiologically during their lifetime to warmer conditions.

“We’ll probably look at some that come from the Arabian Gulf and some from outside and [analyse] how their heat tolerance is affected by growing them up in different environments,” said Dr Howells.

“The corals here are already living under conditions we’re not expecting to see on reefs in other parts of the world for another 100 years.”

Coral reefs are formed from secreted skeletons of invertebrate organisms that belong to Phylum Cnidaria, a grouping that also includes jellyfish and anemones and which is one of the more than 30 phyla that make up Kingdom Animalia.

Corals are especially interesting biologically because they contain photosynthetic algae with which they live in a symbiotic, or mutually beneficial, relationship: the corals provide nutrients and protection, while the algae produce sugars, protein building blocks and oxygen. The earlier study showed that both the coral and the algae adapt genetically to warmer conditions.

Compared to some other parts of the world, Gulf coral reefs tend to have fewer species: on a dive in the Great Barrier Reef, as many as 50 or 100 species can be identified, while here the figure is typically 10 or less. Those species that are found in the Gulf must be tolerant of hot summers, cool winters and high salt levels.

Over the past three years, when she has been based in Abu Dhabi, Dr Howells has made 20 or so diving trips off Saadiyat Island and around half as many off Fujairah to study the health of the reef or collect small amounts of coral for her experiments. In both areas, the coral is usually around four to seven metres below the surface, so scuba-diving equipment is needed, although off parts of Fujairah there is coral that can be seen using just a snorkel.

In the forthcoming study, which is financed by the AXA Research Fund, Dr Howells will collect small coral samples and breed them in the laboratory.

Arabian Gulf corals breed annually around April time, releasing eggs and sperm into the water. In the laboratory, breeding will take place at the same time and will generate thousands of individuals for experiments.

Some of these will be exposed, as larvae, juveniles or adults, to a hot environment, while others will be grown in milder conditions. These siblings will then be compared with one another for their heat tolerance.

“If they perform in the same way, the environment didn’t have an effect; it’s down to their genetics,” said Dr Howells.

“But if we see a difference between those grown in the hot environment and those grown up in the cooler environment, then we can see that the corals can also acclimatise.”

Water temperatures in the Arabian Gulf can reach as high as 36C during the summer but because this would kill most young corals, in the forthcoming experiments the hotter conditions will be at about 33C and the milder conditions at about 27C.

“We’ll make thousands of babies and ... test some fairly early on in life, within just a week. Then we will leave others to grow up in these different environments for months,” said Dr Howells.

The first results should be available less than a year from now, although it will probably take about two years for the full picture to emerge.

The ideal result would be that corals grown in warmer environments do turn out to be more tolerant of higher temperatures later in life, as this would suggest that corals have a better chance of coping with the temperature changes that global warming will bring.

“If the environment is important, that should be good news. If we find there’s little difference with the environment, it’s probably going to take corals much longer to respond to rising temperatures, because [genetic] adaptation is a much slower process − it requires natural selection for heat-tolerant genotypes within the population,” said Dr Howells.

Also, if corals grown in warmer conditions are more resistant to heat, it will indicate that coral nurseries that grow the creatures to restore reefs could expose the corals to higher temperatures to make them better able to cope in warm seas.

newsdesk@thenational.ae

Daniel Bardsley is a UK-based freelance journalist and former reporter at The National.

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

A Prayer Before Dawn

Director: Jean-Stephane Sauvaire

Starring: Joe Cole, Somluck Kamsing, Panya Yimmumphai

Three stars

The National Archives, Abu Dhabi

Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”