Rachel Wood, a geologist from the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the study, said, "It begs the question: If having a calcite skeleton was so much better for life in such a corrosive sea, why aren't there more of them?"
The research will appear tomorrow in the journal Science.
Diversity Benefits
"This study has opened the door to the possibility that coral skeletons can potentially change back and forth from aragonite to calcite," said Stephen Cairns, research zoologist at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
"It suggests that animals and plants in general are quite adaptable creatures, and even though Earth changes—sometimes dramatically, like [in the case of] a comet hitting and wiping out 90 percent of animal life—it is so resilient that a vestige still gets through."
Co-author Stolarski said that diversity may be the key to adaptability, even in today's corals, which are under threat from warming seas. (Related news: "Coral Reefs Vanishing Faster Than Rain Forests" [August 7, 2007].)
"We should be extremely careful about coral reefs today, because they can only adapt to these changing environments if they maintain their diversity."
"If we completely eliminate some families or groups of corals, we may lose the very corals that would be able to adjust to changing environments in the future."
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