Jul 23, 2015 05:54 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Climate change could reduce coral reefs' ability to protect tropical islanders against a wave attack, according to a recent study.

Researchers at Florida Institute Technology, the University of Queensland and the Palau International Coral Reef Center revealed that the diverse underwater ecosystems that have protected Pacific Islanders from storm waves for thousands of years could grow rapidly enough to keep up with escalating sea levels if ocean temperatures do not rise too quickly.

Coral reefs are an important and essential part of island culture, and they are considered a precious resource in the Pacific Ocean. If global temperatures continue to rise and thus retard the growth of these natural storm barriers, the homelands of millions of people on lands throughout the Pacific Ocean will be in jeopardy.

"Reefs will continue to keep up with sea-level rise if we reduce our emission of greenhouse gases," Florida Tech's Rob van Woesik, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, said in a statement. "If reefs lose their capacity to keep up with sea-level rise they will drown."

The study provides the first evidence that well-managed reefs will be able to keep up with sea-level rise through vertical growth. But that can happen only if carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere stay below 670 parts-per million (ppm). Carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas responsible for most of global warming, which in turn increases ocean temperatures.

Today, the level of carbon dioxide is 400 ppm. Beyond 670 ppm -- which represents a 3.5 degree Fahrenheit ocean temperature increase and could be reached within the next 100 years -- even healthy reefs will not be able keep up.

The findings are detailed in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

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