So-called "Super coral" in Western Australia's north is more resistant to fluctuations in temperature, providing researchers with hope they may recover faster from bleaching events linked to global warming.

A paper, published in Nature Scientific Reports, examined the resistance levels in the hardy coral found in WA's Kimberley region, by simulating rising sea water temperatures that are predicted to occur by the end of this century.

The researchers found that while some organisms had a higher resilience due to the area's extreme environment, they will still be susceptible to bleaching from global warming.

The finding comes as fears mount over a predicted coral bleaching event which scientists think may be the most damaging in history.

Lead author Verena Schoepf, from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at the University of Western Australia's Oceans Institute, said researchers initially became interested in the Kimberly coral reefs because they can live under extreme conditions that most other corals cannot tolerate.

The research team discovered not all corals react the same way, but that all were going to be affected by changes in water temperature.

"Some were more resistant than others, and that was specifically the corals that came from the most extreme environments, namely the tide-pools in the Kimberley," she said.

"While the coral from the most extreme environment resisted bleaching for longer than corals from less extreme environments, they still bleached."

Existing environmental extremes could hold key to survival

Intertidal Acropora corals in the Kimberley are exposed to the air at low tides. ( Supplied: Verena Schoepf )

According to the paper the majority of coral reefs across the world occur in tropical latitudes.

Because of this they usually only experience relatively limited seasonal changes in water temperatures — between four to five degrees Celsius — and are exposed to maximum temperatures of around 30 degrees.

But coral reefs also exist in much more extreme environments, and perhaps none more so than in north-west Australia.

The region is known to have the largest tropical tides in the world, strong currents and turbid waters.

Water temperatures exceed 30 degrees for five months of the year and there can be short-term fluctuations of up to seven degrees daily as well as exposure to the air for several hours.

Dr Schoepf said it is this unique dynamic and variable environment that makes the coral in the region worth examining.

"It gives us a little bit of hope for the future of coral reefs," she said.

"The good news is the extreme temperature environments, such as the Kimberley, can actually boost the resistance of some corals for heat stress and bleaching."

"But at the same time we also found out that the super corals will still be vulnerable to climate change."

The team are now examining whether coral can increase their heat resistance, in order to keep pace with global warming.

"We have another experiment going on, where we're trying to see if the coral from the less extreme environments can acquire the same heat resistance as the coral in the more extreme environments, by just putting them in the more extreme areas," she said.

Dr Schoepf said coral that takes longer to bleach could recover faster.

"It depends on the length of the natural bleaching event, and how bad the destruction is," she said.

"But if it isn't too extreme there's certainly a better chance of super coral recovering faster."