Underwater coral gardens may help avoid a biodiversity meltdown

[ad_1]

Planting diverse corals under the sea could help save threatened coral reef ecosystems, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances on October 13. The study, conducted by Cody Clements and Mark Hay of the Georgia Institute of Technology, found that increasing coral reefs’ richness by ‘outplanting’ diverse species of corals could improve coral reef growth and survival.

Continue reading below

Our Featured Videos

The findings come at a time when coral reefs are facing serious threats globally. According to the EPA, the Caribbean has already lost about 80-90% of its coral cover. The Indo-Pacific region has lost more than half of its corals. The trend is replicated across the world. Coral reefs are faced with a myriad of threats including human activity, global warming and overfishing, among others.

Related: Earth has lost 14% of its coral reefs in less than a decade

According to the researchers, their discovery could help save coral reefs from complete depletion if adopted. Planting would help retain coral reefs that are under threat and even help them grow wider. However, the researchers are still calling for additional research to better understand how the mechanism could be harnessed.

“Yes, corals are the foundation species of these ecosystems — providing habitat and food for numerous other reef species,” said Clements, a Teasley Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences. “Negative effects on corals often have cascading impacts on other species that call coral reefs home. If biodiversity is important for coral performance and resilience, then a ‘biodiversity meltdown’ could exacerbate the decline of reef ecosystems that we’re observing worldwide.”

In their experiment, the scientists planted different species of corals in Mo’orea, French Polynesia. The corals grew and spread well despite growing in mixed species. According to the researchers, the aim was to determine whether the corals were mutual or competitive.

“We’ve done the manipulations, and the corals should be competing with each other, but in fact they do better together than they do on their own,” said Hay, Teasley Chair in the School of Biological Sciences. “We are still investigating the mechanisms causing this surprising result, but our experiments consistently demonstrate that the positive interactions are overwhelming negative interactions in the reef settings where we conduct these experiments. That means when you take species out of the system, you’re taking out some of those positive interactions, and if you take out critical ones, it may make a big difference.”

Via Newswise

Lead image via Pexels

[ad_2]

Original Post

38 thoughts on “Underwater coral gardens may help avoid a biodiversity meltdown

  • 6 December 2022 at 8:22 pm
    Permalink

    Some genuinely nice and utilitarian info on this web site, likewise I conceive the style and design has got superb features.

    Reply
  • 24 December 2022 at 3:22 am
    Permalink

    I’ve been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be a lot more useful than ever before.

    Reply
  • 11 April 2023 at 11:52 am
    Permalink

    I am constantly searching online for tips that can benefit me. Thx!

    Reply
  • 13 April 2023 at 4:13 am
    Permalink

    Great awesome issues here. I am very happy to peer your article. Thanks a lot and i’m having a look ahead to touch you. Will you please drop me a mail?

    Reply
  • 13 April 2023 at 2:41 pm
    Permalink

    What’s Going down i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve discovered It absolutely useful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to give a contribution & help other customers like its aided me. Great job.

    Reply
  • 22 April 2023 at 5:22 pm
    Permalink

    Those are yours alright! . We at least need to get these people stealing images to start blogging! They probably just did a image search and grabbed them. They look good though!

    Reply
  • 25 April 2023 at 12:59 am
    Permalink

    Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write on my blog something like that. Can I implement a part of your post to my site?

    Reply
  • 4 May 2023 at 9:25 am
    Permalink

    Thank you for sharing with us, I think this website truly stands out : D.

    Reply
  • 10 June 2023 at 12:22 am
    Permalink

    I have been reading out some of your articles and i must say pretty good stuff. I will make sure to bookmark your site.

    Reply
  • 24 August 2023 at 10:04 pm
    Permalink

    Thanks for sharing superb informations. Your web-site is so cool. I’m impressed by the details that you?¦ve on this website. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this web page, will come back for more articles. You, my friend, ROCK! I found just the information I already searched all over the place and simply couldn’t come across. What an ideal site.

    Reply
  • 22 December 2023 at 5:06 pm
    Permalink

    I have learn several just right stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how so much effort you put to create such a great informative web site.

    Reply
  • 15 January 2024 at 3:54 pm
    Permalink

    It?¦s in reality a nice and helpful piece of information. I am happy that you shared this helpful information with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  • 2 April 2024 at 8:02 am
    Permalink

    I am really impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the excellent quality writing, it is rare to see a great blog like this one today..

    Reply
  • 10 April 2024 at 12:21 am
    Permalink

    What is Alpha Tonic? Alpha Tonic stands as a natural health supplement designed to comprehensively address men’s overall well-being.

    Reply
  • 10 April 2024 at 1:35 pm
    Permalink

    I got what you mean , thankyou for putting up.Woh I am glad to find this website through google.

    Reply
  • 11 April 2024 at 6:17 am
    Permalink

    Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your content seem to be running off the screen in Firefox. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The style and design look great though! Hope you get the problem solved soon. Thanks

    Reply
  • 15 April 2024 at 6:11 pm
    Permalink

    naturally like your website but you need to check the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very bothersome to tell the truth nevertheless I’ll definitely come back again.

    Reply
  • 16 April 2024 at 1:41 am
    Permalink

    I do agree with all of the ideas you’ve presented in your post. They are really convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are too short for starters. Could you please extend them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.

    Reply
  • 16 April 2024 at 1:50 am
    Permalink

    You made several fine points there. I did a search on the subject and found nearly all people will agree with your blog.

    Reply
  • 16 April 2024 at 4:30 pm
    Permalink

    Today, I went to the beach front with my kids. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off topic but I had to tell someone!

    Reply
  • 17 April 2024 at 1:55 pm
    Permalink

    Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly return.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *