NORTH Atlantic deep-sea coral reefs found in Scottish waters are under threat from the impacts of climate change, according to a new study.

Marine scientists at Edinburgh University’s school of geosciences have produced research warning that changes to winter weather conditions could threaten the long-term survival of coral populations, upsetting fragile ecosystems that support an array of marine species.

A WWF Scotland spokesman said: “This research highlights the need for greater action to address climate change and the importance of having a coherent network of well-managed, properly-resourced marine protected areas.

“Globally, healthy oceans are important for wildlife and the many coastal communities that depend on them for a living. However, rising temperatures and other negative impacts caused by climate change put all this at risk. Hopefully, this research will help us better understand how to address these and other challenges facing our marine environment.”

Corals allow diverse forms of marine life to thrive by building reef structures that provide protection from predators and safe spaces to reproduce.

The team focused on a species of cold-water coral – known as Lophelia pertusa – which grows in deep waters, creating elaborate reefs that are hotspots of biodiversity. These populations are maintained by tiny, fragile coral larvae that drift and swim on ocean currents, travelling hundreds of miles between the reefs, where they attach and begin to grow.

The researchers used computers to simulate the migration of larvae across vast distances to predict the effect weather changes may have on the long-term survival of Lophelia pertusa populations in the North Atlantic.

They found that a shift in average winter conditions in western Europe, one of the predicted impacts of climate change, could threaten coral populations. Ocean currents, affected by changing wind patterns, could drive larvae away from key sites in a new network of marine areas established to help safeguard corals.

Scientists discovered that Scotland’s network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) appear to be weakly connected, making it vulnerable to the effects of climate change. A coral population on Rosemary Bank seamount, an undersea mountain off Scotland’s west coast, is key to maintaining the network.

Corals also thrive on oil and gas platforms in the North Sea and west of Shetland, which may help to bridge a gap in the MPA network between populations in the Atlantic and along the coast of Norway, the team says.

The study is published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. It was carried out in collaboration with Heriot-Watt University through a Daphne Jackson fellowship, and as part of the ATLAS project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Dr Alan Fox, at Edinburgh University’s school of geosciences, who conducted the analysis, said: “In less well connected coral networks, populations become isolated and cannot support each other, making survival and recovery from damage more difficult.”

Professor Murray Roberts, co-ordinator of the ATLAS project, added: “Scotland’s seabed plays a unique role as a stepping stone for deep-sea Atlantic species. By teaming up with researchers in Canada and the US, we will expand this work right across the Atlantic Ocean.”