Now is probably not a good time to be a coral, based on warnings from scientists about unusually warm ocean temperatures and a predicted weak El Niño cycle.

Corals are invertebrate, marine animals that in many cases (especially shallow-water, reef-building corals) live in mutually beneficial symbiotic relationships with photosynthesizing algae. The algae, called zooxanthellae, pass some of their photosynthetic products to corals as food. As such, this relationship is key to coral survival.

Rising ocean temperatures, including in the Pacific, threaten corals by causing the loss of this algae, which also make the corals colorful. Once lost, corals appear white, or "bleached," and begin to starve. They can recover, providing warmer water conditions don't persist nor are compounded by other stressors, such as pollution or competition from other organisms. Even in the short term, stress from bleaching can impact coral growth and reproduction, and therefore reef building. It also makes corals vulnerable to disease.

Often if bleaching persists, corals die.

And that's a problem because coral reefs, which are sometimes called the rainforests of the ocean, account for some of the most diverse and important ecosystems on Earth. Ocean health and fisheries depend on coral reefs. Our shorelines are buffered from erosion by reefs. They also provide us with tourism-based revenue and even new medicines.

And it's that ecosystem significance that drives scientists to worry about reefs and their fate, especially this winter (or summer, if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, as is Australia's Great Barrier Reef).

The current concern stems from what might happen when overly warm ocean waters (brought on by climate change; side note, last year is now the hottest year on Earth since record keeping began) meet a cyclical El Niño climate event. El Niños also add heat to oceans and lead to disruptions in rainfall and other weather variables beyond the Pacific. Past El Niño events have lead to destructive flooding in the United States and parts of South America, drought conditions on lands in the West Pacific and serious brush fires in Australia.

One notably strong and record-breaking El Niño event occurred in 1997-98, giving rise to the worst worldwide coral bleaching incident ever recorded in 1998, from which some coral reefs still haven't recovered. In 2009-10, came another unique El Niño year and more worldwide bleaching. And this winter, a weak El Niño is predicted to form.

A weak El Niño in and of itself might not be much cause for concern if it were not for the fact that global average ocean temperatures have been soaring, hitting the warmest month ever recorded in September 2014.

So, take already severely, abnormally warm ocean temperatures; add more warming from a weak El Niño to corals and coral ecosystems not fully recovered from past bleaching — and 2015 could become a very bad year for corals (in fact, bleaching was already observed starting last year in reefs in Hawaii's Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's Coral Reef Watch monitors sea-surface temperature data collected via satellite and models what that might mean for corals, scoring the potential stress levels as Watch, Warning, and Alert Levels 1 or 2.

Based on the lattest sea-surface temperature data available, some parts of the western Pacific already are forecast to be hitting stress levels up to Alert 2 for the week of Jan. 11. Much of the rest of the reefs worldwide are only at Warning and Watch levels, but the picture gets worse as the end of February approaches. By Feb. 22 and March 1, Alert Levels 1 and 2 are shown all over.

In a report in the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Science Insider, C. Mark Eakin, a coral reef ecologist with Coral Reef Watch, warned that the third global-scale coral bleaching event may be on its way. And while the timing of peak stress around late February may mean Australia's Great Barrier corals are spared severe bleaching, Eakin's still concerned about the reefs around South Pacific islands, the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.

As for Oregon and the wider Pacific Northwest, hard and soft corals are found off of our coasts, but there's not as much species density or diversity as in the tropics, said James Burke, director of animal husbandry at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Northwest corals also support rich populations of other invertebrate life, including sponges, tunicates and anemones.

"I have not seen any type of bleaching here on the Oregon Coast at this time," Burke said. "If there are bleaching events, I would expect that to affect the balance of the ecosystem by changing the species composition seen on the reef. Other animals could fill the space or the niche of the corals after bleaching, but this is too early for me to predict."

And if the niche-filling does happen that would mean bleaching has killed Northwest corals or that they're being out-competed while in a weakened state.

Not a good time to be a coral, indeed.

(Want to feel even more depressed about coral bleaching threats? Check out a NOAA animation depicting six months of bleaching alerts since July 2014. You can watch the Alert Level 2 threats build early on between the U.S. Pacific Coast and Hawaii, then dissipate briefly before shifting to the Southern Hemisphere. The portion of the U.S. coast shown in the animation mostly involves California and not much north of the 40th parallel.)

In other science news (from Jan. 8 to 14, 2015):



Solstice is offered a piece of nutrient-packed food supplement at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, where she is recovering after being found on a Washington beach in December 2014. Aquarium staff say she seems to prefer to nosh on fish rather than the food supplements.

— Things continue to look better for Solstice, a juvenile olive ridley turtle that was found hypothermic, dehydrated and emaciated on a Washington beach in December. The sea turtle, which has been recovering at the Oregon Coast Aquarium has been moved to an aquatic habitat, where she did a bit of swimming. However, she had buoyancy issues, which are common for distressed turtles, that kept her from diving below the water's surface. Buoyancy disorders can occur when an excess of air or other gas is trapped somewhere in a turtle's body. Aquarium staff will wait a while to see if the cause of the buoyancy works itself out; otherwise, Solstice may need to undergo a procedure to remove the air or other gas. Meanwhile, the young turtle is displaying a hearty, albeit selective, appetite: She prefers fish to a nutrient-rich food supplement she's been offered. And while these steps are promising, aquarium staff say they are small and that Solstice's overall prognosis remains uncertain. Ultimately, if her rehabilitation goes well, the aquarium will work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on a plan to release her back into the wild. (The Oregonian, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oregon Coast Aquarium, SeaTurtleGuardian.org)

— In case you missed it, a small study in zebrafish linked exposure to bisphenols A and S, chemicals used in BPA and BPA-free plastics and other products, to alterations in brain development and hyperactivity. There are a few caveats about the study not covered in the original story that I later mentioned in a Facebook post. It's embedded below, and here's some of what reader Lenny P. Wallbrook had to stay on Facebook in response: "The two biggest questions I see are: whether we are willing to have ourselves, and even more so our children, be guinea pigs in order to find the answers to questions about bispenols. And whether we are willing to trust the same people that told us how health tobacco is, control the CAFOs, deny global warming, etc., with making decisions regarding our use of bisphenols." Meanwhile, Jim Tung, a research chemist and chair-elect of the Portland chapter of the American Chemical Society, a professional association representing chemists, shared these thoughts about the paper in a LinkedIn discussion, noting that what happens in zebrafish doesn't necessarily equate to what happens in humans: "(I)t seems to me that they've made a half-decent case that BPA or BPS might have effects on fish neural development at the levels found in the local river. Whether or not you believe BPA has negative effects on human biology (I still am not very convinced), I think we can all agree that BPA probably shouldn't be in rivers and streams." (The Oregonian, ACS Portland)

— And now, a word about wolves: Southern Oregon's mildly famous OR-7 and his family have some company. Another adult wolf has been spotted roaming the Keno area. Not much is known about this new wolf yet, but scientists are hoping to do some surveys, including scat collection and monitoring trail cameras, to gather more information. This discovery, of course, comes on the furry heels of OR-7 and family achieving pack status — making for quite a list of achievements for OR-7: He was the first gray wolf to travel west of the Cascades in more than 60 years, he was the first one spotted in California in 90 years, and now he and his young family are the first pack in Western Oregon since the late 1940s. With all those accomplishments to his name, you might call OR-7 the Marcus Mariota of wolves (*rimshot*). And, finally, endangered Mexican wolves in the American Southwest just got a little more room to roam, thanks to a Jan. 12 federal ruling. The acreage that the wolves can occupy in the Arizona-New Mexico area without relocation is being enlarged, as is the area in which captive wolves can be released into the wild. Speaking of wolves in the Southwest, in the Jan. 4 science roundup, I told you that a female wolf shot in Utah, near the Arizona border, could be the same one spotted earlier around the Grand Canyon's North Rim. DNA testing to see if the dead wolf is the same as the one from the canyon is underway, but no results have been released as of Jan. 15. The significance of the wolf spotted around the rim was that it was the first to visit the canyon and Arizona in 70 years. [The Oregonian (2), GoDucks.com, YouTube, Reuters, The Oregonian (2)]

— Space: So pretty with its bright stars. So potentially deadly if, say, you're orbiting the Earth in a confined habitat the size of a football field and you get an ammonia leak. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Jan. 14 had a scare involving an alarm that indicated just such a leak of the toxic gas. Fortunately, it appears to have been a false alarm triggered by malfunctioning equipment. Astronauts, their families, NASA and space fans can now all breathe a collective sigh of relief. Meanwhile, in other space news, commercial contractor SpaceX launched a resupply mission (CRS-5) Jan. 10 to the space station, delivering biological experiments, fresh fruit and belated holiday gifts to the crew. The launch, however, was more notable for it being followed by the first attempt to recover a used rocket engine on a ship in the ocean, rather than letting it burn up on re-entry or splash down to be hauled in later by boat. And by "recover ... on a ship," I mean they tried to land it on an X-marked target on a drone barge. It landed on that barge all right, but it landed hard, and there was a bit of damage to the ship. SpaceX will give it another go on future launches. In the meantime, check out the launch video embedded at the end of this roundup, plus the following GIF, which depicts a moment captured during NASA's live coverage of the CRS-5 vehicle's flight en route to the ISS: Droplets of rocket fuel float in microgravity after the rocket carrying the vehicle underwent second-stage separation (credit to Twitter's @BadPhysics for the following GIF). [National Institutes of Health's MedLinePlus, Space.com (2), Orlando Sentinel, National Geographic, SpaceX, ScienceDaily]

— Meanwhile, in infectious disease news, 20 of the people infected with measles in an outbreak linked to Disneyland and another Disney park in California were ... wait for it ... wait for it ... not vaccinated against the measles virus. Public health officials fear thousands more may have been exposed to the virus at the parks. (CBS News)

— A new species of 170-million-year-old marine reptile, or ichthyosaur, has been identified from fossils found on Scotland's Isle of Skye. It represents a new genus of the ichthyosaurs, and it's providing new insights into their evolution. Given its place of discovery, the specimen's been given a Gaelic name (that translates to "marine lizard") for its genus, while the species part of its moniker honors the amateur fossil collector who discovered it: Dearcmhara shawcrossi. However, here's one thing NOT to call it: "Nessie's real-life cousin." Nope, not even if you later clarify that Nessie, the so-called Loch Ness monster, is a mythical creature. (I'm talking to you, NBC News!) (BBC News, National Geographic, NBC News)

— There's been a lot of talk of late about sexism in science (remember "shirtstorm" late last year?), and the newest item to capture attention seems to be the postings of Alice Zielinski, a blonde, female engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She's shared the reactions she's gotten when telling people she's in engineering at MIT (there are some doozies), and she's written a follow-up about the reactions to the original post (also with doozies). And then there was a little bit of research about reactions on the Internet to studies showing that there is sexism and harassment in the science, technology, engineering and math (or STEM) fields. That research found that male commenters online tended not to see the problem, even when presented with evidence, which kind of follows what's been demonstrated in psychology research recently: that evidence won't cause someone with entrenched beliefs to change said beliefs even if the evidence clearly challenges them; rather a person will tend to cling to those beliefs more strongly. [Sarah Rugheimer's "Women in Stem Resources," Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; The Washington Post; Medium. com (2); The Washington Post]

— Here are a few other tidbits from the week: 1. Ketamine, a so-called rave drug, has shown promise in treating depression, bipolar disorder and suicidal behavior. Pharmaceutical companies are working on patentable versions of the drug. 2. Motherhood does really alter a woman's brain. 3. Footage of living rare "Type D" orcas has been recorded for what is believed to be the first time. 4. Petunias have been shown to have a uniquely sophisticated system of preventing self-fertilization. (Nature News, The Atlantic, Scientific American, American Association for the Advancement of Science's EurekAlert)

— And, finally, I'll call this my "WHAAAAT?! of the Week" item, regarding a creative application of 3-D printing technology to health and medicine: "Man saves wife's sight by 3D printing her tumor." (Make)

— Susannah L. Bodman, sbodman@oregonian.com, www.facebook.com/Sciwhat.Science, Twitter: @Sciwhat