Coral restoration article
By Michael Im Nov 15, 2024
Tropical waters; an endless array of colorful coral; and a host of fish, sharks, seahorses, sea turtles and other lively creatures swimming by: these are the images one conjures up when thinking of Florida’s coral reefs. However, in the past few decades, these subaquatic spectacles have been threatened by rising temperatures.
In the past few decades, the Florida barrier reef, once the third largest coral reef in the world, has shrunk dramatically. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration estimates give a decrease in coral cover of 90 percent since the 1970s, and much of what is left is colorless and dying. Climate change poses an existential threat to these reefs, although recent developments provide hope for their preservation, and maybe even their restoration.
Coral is a strange type of immobile animal, related more to jellyfish than any other creature. It forms symbiotic relationships with tiny, colorful, photosynthesizing algae, providing shelter in exchange for food. This shelter comes in the form of reefs—large structures of calcium carbonate, constructed by colonies of millions of individual coral.
Thousands of other species dwell in the nooks and crannies of these reefs, feeding on each other in convoluted food webs. These species and their biological relationships make reefs extremely biodiverse, housing about a quarter of marine species, despite being found in less than a thousandth of the ocean’s area, earning reefs their nickname of “the rainforests of the sea.”
However, when temperatures rise above about 87 degrees Fahrenheit, the coral eject their algal partners, lose their colors and turn a pale white, in a process known as “coral bleaching.” Normally, the algae returns when temperatures cool, but climate change has pushed these reefs to their limits, with prolonged periods of extreme temperatures preventing this.
Without the algae’s food, the corals starve and the reef dies, leaving behind a dead husk. This bleaching occurred all across Florida’s reefs in the summer of 2023, where a massive heat wave kept temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit for months on end, seeing some areas lose up to 75 percent of coral.
“Visiting a coral reef in the Virgin Islands was a cool and new experience as it would be my first and only time visiting one. However, I have never heard of climate change’s threat to coral reefs. People should help spread awareness about this threat because I never knew anything about it,” Junior Chris Chen said.
Unlike last year, this year’s summer has proved to be much kinder, giving many marine ecologists and coral reef advocates hope for some future success in coral restoration. Organizations like the Coral Restoration Foundation seek to not only protect existing coral reefs, but create new reefs and restore past levels of coral.
By exploiting coral’s innate ability to create new colonies from fragments of another, seven coral nurseries just off the coast of Florida produce thousands of these coral fragments each year, to be nurtured into budding colonies. Eventually, these coral colonies are attached to designated restoration sites in the Florida Keys, where they begin to grow on their own while remaining monitored by researchers and volunteers. Since its inception in 2007, the Foundation has successfully restored some 366,000 square feet of coral, although this is only a miniscule fraction of the coral previously destroyed.
“I once went snorkeling at a coral reef in Hawaii, and I enjoyed the colorful sights there. I have heard a lot about coral bleaching and animals losing their homes in the reefs. To help, action should be focused against climate change itself, as destruction to coral reefs is just one of its many terrible effects,” Sophomore Creighton Voon said.
Human-driven global warming imperils coral reefs around the world, with some estimates putting 99 percent of reefs at risk within the next two decades if current carbon emission trends are not reversed. However, there is still a chance that these wonders of the sea survive. Current efforts are proving promising, albeit limited. Still, if these efforts bear fruit, someday, Florida’s reefs may return to their original beauty.
About the Contributors
Micheal Im
Staff Writer
Michael Im is a Junior at Leland High School and this is his first year as a Staff Writer at journalism. He likes to learn about random topics, play with his dogs, and sleep.
Isabella Zhu
Artist
Isabella is a Staff Writer/Artist, and this is her first year in Journalism. Isabella is deathly scared of running, but does cross country anyways. Her favorite things to do outside of journalism are eating, walking, and sleeping.
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