Coral reefs are vital to marine ecosystems and the overall wellness of our planet. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more than half a billion people depend on reefs for food, income, and storm protection.
The changing climate has caused widespread degradation of these ecosystems, but a recent study offers hope for reef restoration and resilience on a global scale.
Researchers have been trying to restore coral reefs with coral gardening and lab-grown organisms for years. This study, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications in November, combines and complements these approaches and provides promising evidence that damaged reefs can be repaired from the ground — or seafloor — up.
Dr. Natalie Levy and Professor Oren Levy of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, led the study. According to a summary article by the university, they and their team realized that not a lot of previous studies have explored the importance of architecture when it comes to reef health.
Coral reefs' complex structures and surfaces play a significant role in coral health and ecosystem operations. If those structures have been damaged, microinhabitants are lost, and species relying on them are negatively impacted.
The researchers focused on the influence of the benthic reef community or organisms that live in, on, or near the seafloor and introduced a new and cost-effective way to restore coral reefs.
The method is called "a coral reef ecosystem transplant" (aCRET). Researchers used biomimetic terracotta tiles with various holes and crevices to replicate the natural topography of coral reef surfaces.
These tiles were placed in a healthy, non-urbanized coral reef in the Red Sea's Gulf of Eilat, also known as the Gulf of Aqaba, to allow a diverse community of organisms to accumulate over six months. These tiles and a mixture of invertebrates and microorganisms were then transported to a degraded, urbanized coral reef about four miles away for another six months.
At the end of the 12-month experiment, corals originally from the degraded site successfully attached to the healthy transplanted tiles. They exhibited more efficient use of light energy, increased populations of beneficial algae, and reduced physiological stress.
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A concurrent aCRET experiment involving tiles initially placed in the degraded reef and transplanted to the healthy reef was conducted, too, and the results were less than favorable. The findings suggested that transplanting from a healthy ecosystem can revitalize coral health and reef functions.
In a Phys.org article posted by the university, Oren Levy shared his outlook on the future of coral reefs.
"This research advances our understanding of coral restoration and provides an invaluable tool to help address the ongoing global coral crisis," Levy said. "By using healthy ecosystems to regenerate damaged reefs, we can work towards more resilient, sustainable coral ecosystems that may one day recover from climate change and other threats."
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