Reef Relief: Why Restoring the Ruined Regions is Required

Phew try saying that five times fast!

Coral reefs are such an important ecosystem but are in deeper trouble than we can even imagine.  If coral becomes stressed, it will bleach itself.  This means it destroys its symbiotic relationship with tiny microorganisms called Zooxanthella, which turn CO2 into O2 for the coral to thrive.  Coral expel the Zooxanthella and are left chalky white in color, or bleached.  

Some stressors are:

·       Rising water temperatures

·       Increase in coral diseases

·       Fishing practices like trawling and dredging

·       Invasive species

·       Rise in ocean acidity

·       Human interaction resulting in physical damage

·       Surge in human development resulting in terrible water quality

This is bad news not only for corals and scientists, but even for locals and tourists.  Without reefs tourisms will crash with lack of creatures to fish for, areas to scuba or dive to, or fish and invertebrates that people eat every single day.   Once damaged, coral takes a very long time to regrow naturally.  Nonetheless, have no fear, reef relief efforts are being carried out by MOTE Marine Laboratory and Aquarium.  Located in Sarasota, Florida, they are working tirelessly to find new ways to help new coral grow quicker and stronger.  Two leading plans are by mounting corals or coral trees.

Scientists are trying to replace the dead and bleached corals.  Important corals accidentally harvested through fishing, washed up on shore, or broken are collected and broken into fragments which are then epoxied onto small blocks where they are kept in prime conditions for the most opportune growth and higher survival rates.  They are only planted on existing reefs once they are large and strong enough.  This can be taken a step further by completing experiments on several corals to find the best candidate for survival.

Coral trees are best for growing branching corals that are more fragile yet need more space to grow.  Pieces are attached to PVC “tree-like” structures that are places at the bottom of the ocean or conditions at the lab.  Once grown, some pieces are planted directed onto the reef but some can be broken down to be places onto mounting corals. 

New ways to expedite the growth of corals continue to unfold and can hopefully rejuvenate our reefs back to their former glory.

https://mote.org/

https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/eco_discovery.html