Gaining insights from past reefs to inform understanding of coral reef response to global climate change

Global climate change is feared to lead to the collapse of living coral reefs, whose component organisms can respond in but three ways: migration, adaptation, and extinction. Because ancient reefs have been exposed to multiple episodes of environmental change, the fossil record provides an important resource for understanding the range of responses of coral reefs to climate change. Reef development has been slowed or stopped repeatedly in the history of life during periods of climate change. Whilst current conditions might be beyond some of the environmental ranges experienced throughout much of earth's history, coral reefs have shown a remarkable resilience to past climate change. Their fate today lies in the interaction between climate change and local anthropogenic stressors that have devastated a large proportion of living reef ecosystems.