Washington, Scientists have mapped coral reefs in the Caribbean to identify those most likely to survive climate change.

Corals with the highest potential to escape destruction from marine heat waves are predominantly located along the northern shoreline of Cuba.

And other promising sites are clustered around the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Haiti, eastern Jamaica, and the US state of Florida.

Coral reefs are wonders of the ocean.

Made up of hundreds of thousands of tiny creatures, they are one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet.

According to a recent IPCC report (top-level UN reports written by scientists), at up to 1.5C of warming, only 10 to 30% of coral reefs are expected to survive. If warming is above that, survival prospects plummet drastically.

The research team compared different climate models and examined factors such as hurricane damage and heat stress. They used this to define a list of coral that are priorities for protection due to their better resilience to climate change.

Source: Oman News Agency