As unprecedented temperatures threaten coral reefs worldwide, scientists are putting everything we've learned about coral into play to save as much as they can, NBC News reports.
This year was a bad one for coral. The world saw record-high temperatures, and that includes unprecedented heat under the ocean. Unfortunately, high water temperatures lead to coral bleaching.
As NBC News explained, corals get their color from symbiotic algae. Under normal circumstances, the algae produce food for the coral.
However, when the water gets too hot, the algae stop producing enough food and start producing toxins. The coral has to eject the algae — leaving it weakened and vulnerable. Any other factor, like water quality or sediment in the water, could kill the coral in this state.
So it's alarming that this year, the vast majority of the world's coral reefs were in danger of bleaching due to heat stress.
"This is by far the worst bleaching event that's ever hit the Caribbean, in Florida as well as the South Atlantic and Brazil," said Derek Manzello, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch Program, per NBC News. "99.9% of all the reef areas in the Atlantic Ocean — the North and South Atlantic — experienced thermal stress within the last year, which is crazy. That's never happened before."
The problem really picked up its pace in 2023.
"Last year caught everyone off guard," Manzello said. "The Caribbean last year was just unreal, and nobody expected things to get that hot that fast."
In response, scientists are doing everything in their power to restore and protect the coral we have. Some scientists are crossing Florida's coral strains with more heat-tolerant equatorial strains from Honduras to get hardy hybrids that can be transplanted to the more northerly reefs, NBC News revealed.
Another study showed that lab-raised corals meant to restore the Caribbean are faring better than older, wild ones, NBC News reported.
In five acres of coral reef in Puerto Rico, scientists are building nurseries for baby sea urchins to raise in a lab before returning them to the reef as adults so they can clear harmful algae and promote coral growth, NBC News said.
In all these cases, human intervention may help slow the die-off of coral and help it survive long enough for environmental initiatives to cool the planet down.
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