Coral reefs shelter one of the largest biodiversity on earth and provide US$36 Billion per year of ecosystem services. According to current experimental evidence, they could disappear or be drastically decimated within the coming decades if CO2 emissions remain unabated. Yet, we recently discovered a remarkable site, which the only natural analogue of future climatic conditions exhibiting the three main parameters that drive climate change in the oceans: lower pH (<7.8) and oxygen (-20 to 30%), and warmer temperatures (+ 0.5 to 3°C). While these conditions are generally recognized as unfavourable to corals, there, a rich and abundant coral reef has developed. This novel natural analogue brings new hope for the future of coral reefs and provides a unique natural laboratory to explore how corals could keep pace with climate change.

SuperNatural crosses traditional interdisciplinary boundaries between evolutionary biology, physiology, ecology, and genetics to study the mechanisms by which coral reefs may acclimatize or adapt to suboptimal conditions. Ambitious and unprecedented experiments will be carried out in situ where phenotypic responses will be measured for a diverse array of life-history traits in several species. Within-generation, parental effects and transgenerational plasticity responses to suboptimal conditions will be assessed using specifically designed reciprocal transplantations on adult and juvenile corals. Complementary laboratory experiments and analyses will provide solid evidence of the underlying evolutionary mechanisms that corals might use to face climate change. Results will also identify the species that are more likely to resist in the future, which is particularly important for coral reef conservation and assisted evolution projects that aim to enhance the resilience of corals. Overall, SuperNatural will provide critical and ground-breaking results that can fundamentally change our understanding of how climate change will impact coral reefs in the future.

Coral reefs shelter one of the largest biodiversity on earth and provide US$36 Billion per year of ecosystem services. According to current experimental evidence, they could disappear or be drastically decimated within the coming decades if CO2 emissions remain unabated. Yet, I recently discovered a remarkable site, which the only natural analogue of future climatic conditions exhibiting the three main parameters that drive climate change in the oceans: lower pH (<7.8) and oxygen (-20 to 30%), and warmer temperatures (+ 0.5 to 3°C). While these conditions are generally recognized as unfavourable to corals, there, a rich and abundant coral reef has developed. This novel natural analogue brings new hope for the future of coral reefs and provides a unique natural laboratory to explore how corals could keep pace with climate change.