{"666758":{"#nid":"666758","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Algae-farming fish help coral reefs bounce back from bleaching events","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFish that tend patches of stringy\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2277726-corals-swap-in-heat-resistant-algae-to-better-cope-with-global-warming\/\u0022\u003Ealgae\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;seem to shield branching corals from the worst effects of marine heat waves and help them recover after bleaching.\u0026nbsp;In 2019, the reefs near the French Polynesian island of Moorea in the South Pacific Ocean endured their worst heat stress event in 14 years. Branching corals there bleached en masse. Some of those colonies were in \u0022gardens\u0022 defended by farmerfish,\u0026nbsp;which cultivate their own algae for food and chase off fish that eat plants and corals. The researchers discovered that, after one year, just 44 per cent of colonies inside gardens died compared with 67 per cent of those outside gardens. What\u2019s more, colonies on the turf of the territorial fish were twice as likely to recover living tissue to the levels they had been before bleaching. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/mark-hay\u0022\u003EMark Hay\u003C\/a\u003E, Regents Professor and Teasley Chair in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, didn\u0027t work on the research but said that tissue recovery was \u0022a big deal\u0022 and that the farmerfish seem to be having a positive effect. \u003Cem\u003E(Subscription required)\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"basic_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2023-03-22 20:31:45","changed_gmt":"2023-03-22 20:37:08","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"New Scientist ","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2364836-algae-farming-fish-help-coral-reefs-bounce-back-from-bleaching-events\/","dateline":{"date":"2023-03-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-03-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"154","name":"Environment"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"13884","name":"Mark Hay"},{"id":"100711","name":"coral reefs"},{"id":"169211","name":"coral bleaching"},{"id":"79271","name":"algae"},{"id":"192373","name":"farmerfish"},{"id":"831","name":"climate change"},{"id":"791","name":"Global Warming"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}