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A Solution for Coral Reefs in Peril

Posted by Hemos on from the trying-to-correct-our-own-mistakes dept.

Alien54 writes "At the recent Coral Reef Symposium in Bali, Indonesia, scientists concluded that most of the world's ocean reefs have been killed or severely damaged with the remainder in certain jeopardy. Disastrous reverses in reef health threaten marine biodiversity, tourism, fisheries and shore protection worldwide. Reefs die for many reasons: rising water temperatures, sewage flows, eutrophication, disease, and negligence. A reef ecosystem that took hundreds of years to grow can be destroyed in a single afternoon by dredging, dynamite or cyanide fishing. But there is a solution. In pilot installations in Mexico, Panama, Indonesia, Maldives, Thailand, and Papua New Guinea, artificial reefs have been built where corals grow rapidly even in stressed environments. Applying a low voltage electrical current (completely safe for swimmers and marine life) to a submerged conductive structure causes dissolved mineral crystals in seawater to preciptate and adhere to that structure. Surviving coral fragments are mechanically attached, and end up doing very well indeed. During the 1998 warming, fewer than 5% of the natural reef corals survived. But on the artificial reefs, 80% of corals not only survived, they flourished. Corals from these reefs are now recolonizing the surrounding natural habitats."

5 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Reef bacteria changing by PIPBoy3000 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, there was a recent article that discussed the fact that the symbiotic bacteria that made up corals was changing. So, though there's widespread bleaching of corals, it doesn't necessarily mean doom. The newer symbionts are much better adapted to warmer temperatures, so they should do better with the overall warming of the oceans.

    What's probably happening with this artificial corals is that they're being colonized by the "clade D" symbionts right off the bat, which makes it look like they're thriving.

    That's not to say that corals don't face other issues - pollution and disease most notably - but the situation may not be as dire as suspected.

  2. Coral Can Adapt by minerat · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's pretty cool and might work in some places where the coral hasn't already adapted (admittedly a LOT of places). Coral has been adapting on its own to warming conditions though. Along the Panama coast, warm water caused extensive bleaching in corals that had formed a symbiotic relationship with one type of Symbiodinium algae, known as clade C. But corals that joined forces with another algae type, clade D, that can tolerate higher temperatures, did not become bleached. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns999 96275

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    ...and you've eaten your pen. simply stunning.
  3. Reef Teach by rleyton · · Score: 5, Informative
    A bit of a plug this, from somebody who knew next to nothing about Coral biospheres until very recently. If, like me, you find yourself visiting Cairns, and planning on a visit to the Great Barrier Reef, you'd do very well to pay a visit to Reef Teach the night before.

    Superb, extremely interesting and enjoyable overview of coral reef biodiversity, and very good at providing an overview of the threats faced by the reef, both manmade and natural. Cheap too, and free biscuits :-)

    As their blurb states, "through understanding comes appreciation". Snorkling around the reef was one of the best parts of my recent world trip - apart from the sunburn I picked up by being too quick into the water. It was a huge shame the tour boat didn't much of a job of advising people of the threat we pose to the environment when out on the reef. If you fancy yourself as a eco-friendly geek, like me, you certainly would do well to visit Reef Teach.

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    ooooooh! What does this button do? - DeeDee, Dexters Lab.
  4. Re:Underwater Habitat by glenmark · · Score: 5, Informative
    When I was about 10 or 11 (1985), my mom bought me a book with a title something like "The Future for Kids" or some other cheesy thing. It had all sorts of cool things that we could look forward to in our future. One of them was the construction of underwater habitats using low-voltage grids to let the sea build the walls for you. I remember thinking how cool this was, and fantasizing about building my own habitat in the back yard (I lived on a bay).
    One of the people behind this project, Wolf Hilbertz, is actually one of the pioneers of the "seacrete" idea for growing structures underwater using electrolosys-induced accretion.
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    *** Quantum Mechanics: The Dreams of Which Stuff is Made ***
  5. Re:FTA... by camelreef · · Score: 5, Informative

    Those works on electricity and coral growth are originally fromm Tom Goreau.

    I have a friend who worked with Goreau and implemented the system for use in aquariums, but most importantly for his coral farm.

    Once thing not mentionned: corals growing that fast that way are quite brittle, as the critaline structure of their skeletton does not have time to be strong enough. Once electricity is not used anymore, the skeletton acquires normal solidity rapidly.

    Some pictures of a home setup:
    http://rdo.homelinux.org/gallery/saintvulbas2000/M VC_209X
    http://rdo.homelinux.org/gallery/saintvulbas2000/M VC_210X

    Do not ask what the grids are made of, this is the biggest part of the initial research...

    Nico