Understanding the recovery dynamics of corals is paramount to enabling the effective management of coral reefs. While detailed mechanistic models provide insight into reef recovery patterns, colony scale monitoring is not viable for reefs over a large geographical extent, such as the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).
A team of scientists at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology are applying innovative approaches to 3D printing solutions in a bid to restore depleted coral reefs.
Instead of using synthetic or hybrid materials, they have developed a new approach called 3D CoraPrint, which uses an eco-friendly and sustainable calcium carbonate photo-initiated (CCP) ink that they also developed.
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) has released a report of its findings from the Global Reef Expedition—the result of ten years of assessing the state of coral reefs worldwide.
Considered the largest coral reef survey and mapping research mission in history, the findings provides a baseline data on their status and offering key insights on how to save them in a rapidly changing world.
Rather than causing a collapse of biodiversity, the dual stressors of ocean warming and acidification could instead lead to significant changes in the relative abundance of species, resulting in a shuffling of coral reef community structure, according to a new study by researchers from University of Hawai'i.
Sprawling coral reefs are complex ecosystems that are teeming with life and most of this biodiversity consists of tiny organisms living deep within the three-dimensional reef matrix.
Last December, marine biologist Caitlin Lawson made her way to the Great Barrier Reef.
Like countless others, she was there for the annual spawning of the corals. However, she was armed, not with expensive photographic equipment, but small plastic containers rigged with tubing.
Her mission? To collect the gaseous chemicals released by the corals (as well as their algal and bacterial symbionts) before, during and after the spawning event.
There are currently about half a trillion corals in the Pacific. Of the species studied, two-thirds of the coral species have population sizes exceeding 100 million colonies, while 20 percent of the species have population sizes that are more than a billion colonies.
“We need to know the abundance of a species to assess its risk of extinction,” said lead author Andy Dietzel from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University (Coral CoE at JCU).
Researchers at Michigan State University and the University of Hawaii at Manoa have been uncovering clues as to why some corals bleach while others are resistant, information that could help reefs better weather warming waters in the future.
The team analysed the biochemistry of corals using mass spectrometers to understand what set resistant corals apart from susceptible ones. The scientists found that two different communities of algae lived within the corals. Inside the algae cells were compounds known as lipids.
Our coral reefs are now under threat not only from the global warming, pollution and exploitation but also by the conduct of divers in these sensitive areas. The reefs are now calling for our protection both when we dive and as contributors to the ongoing struggle to preserve these unique ecosystems for future generations.
The coral sanctuary is a wildlife hotspot where species are thriving despite warming events that have killed their neighbours
Coral reefs have been seeking new pastures, as rising temperatures heat up their natural habitats.
Over the last four decades, coral reefs have been progressively shifting their homes from equatorial waters to more temperate regions.
The reason? Climate change.
“Climate change seems to be redistributing coral reefs, the same way it is shifting many other marine species,” said Nichole Price, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and lead author of the paper on the topic.
