The Great Barrier Reef is a valuable
ecosystem. which has been exposed to
climate change, and to help corals
survive Australian scientists are trying
to speed up the reproductive cycle of
the corals and boost their genes. which
can survive higher temperatures take a
look
below the turquoise Waters off the coast
of Australia, is one of the world’s
natural wonders. an underwater rainbow
jungle, the Great Barrier Reef billions
of microscopic animals called polyps,
have built this breathtaking 1400 mile
long Colossus .that is visible from space
and is perhaps a million years old.
it is home to thousands of known plant
and animal species. and it boasts off 6.4
billion dollar annual tourism industry
battered . but not broken by the impact of
climate change. the ecosystem is
inspiring hope and a worry alike, and
that is because researchers race to
understand how it can survive a warming
world.
the underwater heat waves and Cyclones
driven in part of runaway greenhouse gas
emissions , have devastated some of the 3
000 coral reefs that make up the Great
Barrier Reef . the heat waves in recent
years drove corals to expel countless
tiny organisms, that power the reefs
through photosynthesis.
this has further caused the branches to
lose their color or bleach, without these
algae corals don’t grow and can become a
little brittle ,and without time to
recover between these events . the reef
was not able to regrow.
the researchers say that climate change
is already challenging, the vibrant
marine superstructure and all that
depend upon it. and the worse is yet to
come at one and a half degrees of
warming with strong local management to
boost resilience. we think we can protect
coral reefs in many places , but as we
approach two degrees and certainly, as we
pass it we will lose the world’s coral
reefs ,and all the benefits that they
give to humanity.
the authorities are trying to buy time
for The Reef by combining ancient
knowledge ,with the new technology.
they are starting Coral reproduction in
hopes of accelerating regrowth and
adapting it to handle hotter and rougher
Seas for 37 years. the divers with
cameras have built a record of change
disasters got bigger and happened more
frequently.
the first step in the reef restoration
plan is to better understand the
enigmatic life cycle of the coral itself.
and that’s why dozens of Australian
researchers collect Coral eggs and
sperms ,during the spawning event that is
the only time each year . when the coral
polyps naturally reproduce.
back in the labs they test ways to speed
up the Coral’s reproductive cycle, and
boost genes that survive higher
temperatures.
one such lab floats off the coast of
Konomi Island . a two-hour boat ride from
the coast of Queensland,
20 scientists and staffers are
collecting coral for study for nearly a
month. now
our current Target for the coral seeding
intervention, that’s being developed is
to deploy tens to hundreds of millions
of corals per year .and so the research
that we’re doing here is looking at how
we can upscale .how we can deploy large
numbers of corals and where we should be
deploying those corals ,to maximize the
chance of survival and success of the
intervention.
these scientists compared this method to
tree planting with drones but underwater.
meanwhile these scientists at the
national sea simulator have successfully
bred Corals in a lab . off season a
crucial first step in being able to
quickly and at scale introduce genetic
adaptations to climate changes like
warming Waters.
for now, Reef white farming and planting
corals is a possible science fiction as
it is way too expensive to scale it at a
larger level .but in the near future it
might be possible to carry out these
methods.
and until then we as individuals have to
cut down on our emission to save these
reefs from going extinct.