coral reef tagged posts

How Scientists Plan to Save our Coral Reefs

An ecologist with the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium tends to coral in a reef restoration area, or nursery, in the Florida Keys.

When ecologist Carly Randall first dove into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef in 2017, she was bracing herself for the worst. During the prior year or so, the reef had been ravaged by back-to-back heat waves and an invasion of crown-of-thorns.

When corals get too hot, they release the algae that live in their cells and provide them with nutrients, turning the corals white and sometimes causing them to starve. And crown-of-thorns starfish, which look like hostile creatures from a B movie, feast on reef-building corals, leaving behind skeletons.

But rather than a disintegrating ecosystem reminiscent of a horror flick, Randall saw a reef full of vibrant corals, teeming with fish and other aquatic life...

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Can an underwater soundtrack bring coral back to life?

A coral reef in the Similan Islands

The ocean is a vast, quiet place, right? Vast, yes; quiet, not so much. As a researcher who studies coral reefs, I’ve floated above many and, when I listen closely, my ears are invariably filled with sounds. There might be the sound of small waves breaking on the beach and coral rubble rolling on the sand as the waves retreat. Beyond the sound of water, there is something quieter.

For some people, these faint noises sound like the snap, crackle and pop of breakfast cereal when milk hits it; for others, they are reminiscent of frying bacon.

Whatever the analogy, they are natural reef sounds, and noisy reefs are a very good thing. So good, in fact, that we might be able to use the sound of healthy coral reefs to improve the quickly increasing number of degraded ones.

For the past three de...

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Ocean acidification a big problem – but not for coral reef fish behavior

AN ASSEMBLY OF DAMSELFISHES ON THE GREAT BARRIER REEF IN AUSTRALIA. SEVERAL OF THESE DAMSELFISH SPECIES WERE USED BY THE RESEARCHERS IN THEIR STUDY. PHOTO: FREDRIK JUTFELT/NTNU

A three-year, comprehensive study of the effects of ocean acidification challenges previous reports that a more acidic ocean will negatively affect coral reef fish behaviour. The study, conducted by an international coalition led by scientists from Australia and Norway, showed that coral reef fish exposed to CO2 at levels expected by the end of the century did not change their activity levels or ability to avoid predators.

“Contrary to previous studies, we have demonstrated that end-of-century CO2 levels have a negligible impact on the behaviour and sensory systems of coral reef fish,” said Timothy Clark, the lead author of the study and an associate professor at Deakin University in Australia.

Although this is good news on its own, ocean acidification and global warming remain a major pr...

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NOAA Targets 7 ‘Iconic’ Keys Reefs For $100 Million Restoration

A diver cleans algae from staghorn coral at a Coral Reef Restoration Foundation nursery

For decades, most of the news about coral reefs has been pretty gloomy. Now the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is launching a new mission to bring back a few of those reefs. Reefs along the Keys once commonly had coral cover of 30 to 40 percent of its surfaces. Those healthy reefs protected the Keys from storms, nurtured fish and lobsters and helped create a thriving tourism industry that relies heavily on diving, snorkeling and fishing.

Now the coral cover is more like 2 percent on a lot of the reefs that still draw tourists.

“Frankly, we cannot afford to let these declines continue. We cannot afford not to act,” Sarah Fangman, the sanctuary superintendent. “These systems are in a state that without our active help, they cannot recover fast enough.”

The National Oceanic and Atmos...

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Reviving Egypt’s Marine Life With 3D Printed Coral Reefs

3D Coral Reef from Fabri Gate at Exhibition

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN), coral reefs house the world’s most biodiverse ecosystem and directly support more than 500 million people, the majority of whom are in developing countries. Naturally formed out of thin layers of calcium carbonate (limestone), coral reefs have sustained great damage over the past decades due to the effects of climate change—such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the largest living thing on Earth, which has lost half of its colorful ecosystem and the life it once sustained to heat stress.

And since they are crucial to life on Earth, the destruction of coral reefs wouldn’t only wreak havoc on marine life and the ecosystems that depend on it, it wou...

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Algae could ‘protect coral reefs from climate change’

A school of fish swims in the Coral Sea

Scientists have discovered a type of algae that could play a key role in protecting coral reefs against climate change. Coral reefs all over the world are being badly damaged as warming oceans gradually suck the life out of them.

But researchers have identified two species of algae which are able to adapt and survive the hotter seawater temperatures caused by global warming and could be used to boost the coral reefs’ defences.

“This is an important step forward in understanding how coral can handle global warming…It is encouraging to see that corals have mechanisms in place to adjust to high seawater temperatures,” said Cecilia D’Angelo, of the University of Southampton.

Changing their chemical make-up

The algae species – known as Cladocopium and Durusinium trenchi – are able to ch...

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Actions to save coral reefs could benefit all ecosystems

Coral reefs are under threat

Scientists say bolder actions to protect coral reefs from the effects of global warming will benefit all ecosystems, including those on land. In an article published in Nature today two researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University (Coral CoE at JCU) say the world’s reefs will disappear by 2070 if climate change continues on its current path. Even well-protected World Heritage-listed coral reefs have been increasingly damaged by regional and global bleaching since 1980.

Prof Tiffany Morrison and Prof Terry Hughes suggest a new, holistic approach to safeguarding coral reefs by focussing on land as well as the ocean.

“We must take a new, bolder approach to tackle the underlying causes of coral reef decline,” lead author Prof Morrison said...

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Coral Reef in Italy Discovered

When you want to go diving to see those majestic coral reefs, Italy is probably not the first country you’d consider going to. In fact, it might not be one of the countries that’s in your short list. Nobody knew of the coral reef hiding in the great coast of Italy until now.

The reef, identified in a new study published in Scientific Reports, wasn’t found sitting just below the surface of some shallow lagoon where it’s easily noticeable. Instead, it sits below the ocean waves, hidden from the very little light that beams from above.

The coral reefs that have won the hearts of many all over the world are usually from the Caribbean, Australia and everywhere else where this majestic oasis of sea life gets a very good source of sunlight...

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First coral reef in Italy discovered on Adriatic coast

The coral reef extends for at least two and a half kilometres.

The first coral reef in Italy has been identified, according to researchers. The underwater ecosystem extends for at least two and a half kilometres on the Adriatic coast near Monopoli, in Puglia. It is the first mesophotic coral reef – a term applied to ecosystems with low levels of light – to be found in the Mediterranean.

These types of reef “are found at depths ranging from 30–40 metres … up to 200 metres”, the researchers write in the study published in Nature.

For this reason, the colours of the coral reef in Puglia are more subtle than the better-known varieties in the Pacific.

“The famous Australian or Maldivian coral reefs rise almost to the surface of the water, making the most of the sunlight that is the real fuel of these ecosystems,” said Prof Giuseppe ...

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Ocean heat waves are killing underwater life, threatening biodiversity

Dense Sea Grass

INTENSE HEAT WAVES are bad for human health. They can lead to sometimes deadly conditions like dehydration and stroke. And just like extreme temperatures on land, marine heat waves can drastically alter life under the sea.

A new study published today in Nature Climate Change found that the occurrences of marine heat waves have substantially grown in the past three decades, and it’s becoming clearer how deadly warmer temperatures are for biodiversity.

Marine heat waves are periods when the average water temperature of a given region is exceptionally high. In the past 30 years marine heat wave days have increased by just over 54 percent, a trend the study’s authors found consistent with declines in oceans life.

High-profile marine heat waves like “the blob,” a huge mass of wa...

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