Coral Reefs Create Clouds to Control the Climate

Neil Halelamien writes "New Scientist reports on research showing that coral reefs might cool off by creating their own clouds. The scientists showed that coral reefs are packed with a chemical called DMS, which helps clouds to form when it is released into the atmosphere. In experiments, the researchers have shown that 'corals produce more DMS when the symbiotic algae inside their tissues become stressed by high temperatures or UV radiation,' suggesting that this may be a mechanism corals evolved to help regulate their environment."

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DMSP source of DMS, microbial community produces

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This is part of a large body of research on DMS, its production, fate, and effect on climate. See pubmed for over a thousand citeations.

Allmost all the DMS produced in the oceans originally came from DMSP produced by algae (some corals have symbiotic algae). Some DMSP is broken down to DMS by the algae themselves, but bacteria seem to have a major role in breaking down DMSP to DMS, as well as to another compound, methanethiol, that is not released into the atmosphere in large amounts. Interestingly, the genome of a bacterium that carries out both pathways of DMSP degradation is sequenced. Hopefully this will soon allow us to find more about these two competing fates of DMSP. If you really want more information on this bacteria, you could read the discription paper.

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