Scientists Are Breeding Super Coral That Can Survive Climate Change
Summary
TLDRThe video script addresses the alarming decline of the world's coral reefs, with 50% lost in the last 30 years due to warming waters, pollution, and overfishing. Reef ecologist Eric Hochberg and his team are conducting extensive research, using advanced NASA sensors and photography to understand and prevent further coral loss. The script also highlights the innovative efforts of Richard Vivaz's '50 Reefs' project, which uses virtual reality to raise awareness and engage local communities in conservation. Additionally, marine biologists are exploring 'assisted evolution' to create 'super corals' that can withstand environmental stress. The urgency of the situation is emphasized, with a call to action for global efforts to save these critical underwater ecosystems.
Takeaways
- 🌊 Coral reefs are experiencing a devastating decline, with 50% loss in the past 30 years due to warming waters, pollution, and overfishing.
- 🔬 Reef ecologist Eric Hochberg and his team are conducting global research to understand why corals are dying by photographing major reefs and using NASA sensors.
- 🌍 The project aims to map more of the world's coral reefs than ever before, providing a comprehensive dataset for the first time.
- 🌡️ Coral bleaching, caused by environmental stress, has led to significant coral loss, including a 30% loss at the Great Barrier Reef during a 2014 event.
- 🤝 Richard Vivaz's 50 Reefs project collaborates with Google to document the 50 most protectable reefs using 360-degree virtual reality cameras for awareness and scientific study.
- 🧬 Assisted evolution is being explored as a method to create 'super corals' that can withstand environmental stress, potentially saving coral reefs from extinction.
- 🌱 Scientists are working on scalable solutions to repopulate reefs, including the collection and fertilization of coral larvae to increase reproductive success rates.
- 🌐 The project's success could set a blueprint for global efforts to restore coral reefs, emphasizing the urgency of immediate action over planning.
- 💡 The importance of local community involvement and support is highlighted as crucial for the protection and preservation of coral reefs.
- 🌱 The project's ultimate goal is to create a network that can quickly mobilize scientific knowledge and practical action to restore and protect coral reefs on a global scale.
Q & A
What is the current rate of coral loss worldwide?
-Coral loss is happening at a staggering rate, with 50 percent of the world's corals lost in the last 30 years.
What are the main factors contributing to the death of corals?
-The main factors contributing to coral death include warming waters, pollution, and overfishing.
Who is Eric Hochberg and what is his team's goal?
-Eric Hochberg is a reef ecologist whose team aims to understand why corals are dying by photographing major reefs around the world and using data from NASA sensors.
What technology is being used to gather information about coral reefs?
-A state-of-the-art NASA sensor attached to the team's plane is being used to gather information about coral reefs.
What is the significance of the coral bleaching phenomenon?
-Coral bleaching is significant because it occurs when corals lose their algae and turn white due to stress from extreme environmental changes, leading to widespread coral death.
What is the '50 Reefs' project and how does it aim to help coral reefs?
-The '50 Reefs' project, led by Richard Vaza, aims to identify and document the 50 most protectable reefs around the world using a 360-degree virtual reality camera to raise awareness and promote conservation.
How does the 360-degree virtual reality camera contribute to the study of coral reefs?
-The camera captures remarkably detailed footage that is detailed enough for scientific study and has an algorithm that can automatically analyze the images, significantly speeding up research processes.
What is the concept of 'assisted evolution' in the context of coral conservation?
-Assisted evolution is a process where corals are bred in the lab to identify the strongest species, which are then placed amongst reefs to help them survive and potentially recover from damage.
What is the role of local communities in coral reef conservation according to the script?
-Local communities play a crucial role in coral reef conservation, as gaining their support and involvement is essential for the protection and restoration of these ecosystems.
What is the potential impact of the loss of coral reefs on the world's ecosystems?
-The loss of coral reefs could lead to a world without food in certain areas, loss of coastal security, and a threat to the survival of many species, including those that humans consume.
How does the script suggest we can solve the problem of coral reef destruction?
-The script suggests that understanding the scale and cause of destruction, selecting or breeding the most resilient coral species, and spreading them on a massive scale could solve the problem of coral reef destruction.
Outlines
🌊 Coral Reefs in Crisis
The video script discusses the alarming rate at which corals are dying due to factors such as warming waters, pollution, and overfishing. Over the last 30 years, 50% of the world's corals have been lost, which could have devastating effects on the planet. Reef ecologist Eric Hochberg and his team are conducting a global project to photograph major reefs and understand the causes of their decline. They are using a NASA sensor attached to their plane to gather data, hoping to identify patterns and solutions to prevent further loss. The script also mentions the impact of coral bleaching events, with the most severe one starting in 2014, leading to significant coral loss, including a 30% reduction in the Great Barrier Reef. Richard Vivaz, a former ad executive, is raising awareness through his '50 Reefs' project, which uses a 360-degree virtual reality camera to document reefs and educate local communities about their importance.
🔬 Assisted Evolution for Coral Survival
The script introduces marine biologist Ruth Gates, who is pioneering research aimed at helping corals survive through a process she calls 'assisted evolution.' She explores the idea that corals might be more adaptable in their early life stages and is experimenting with breeding to create 'super corals.' The process involves identifying the strongest coral species, breeding them, and then placing the offspring among damaged reefs to see if they can survive. The script also discusses the challenges of climate change, which is causing more frequent and severe bleaching events, reducing the time corals have to recover. Ruth's work involves using a high-powered microscope to observe how corals react to stress and to experiment with ways to build stronger species. The goal is to develop solutions that can be applied on a large scale to help coral reefs survive and recover.
🌱 Restoring Coral Reefs on a Global Scale
The final paragraph discusses the efforts of a team of scientists called Secor, who are working on a plan to repopulate reefs worldwide. They focus on gathering the larvae of a specific coral species during a full moon, a time when the corals release their sperm and eggs. The team uses tents to collect these reproductive cells, which are then fertilized in a lab. The script highlights the importance of scalability in coral reef restoration and introduces the use of 'tetrapods,' structures covered with coral larvae that can be distributed to help coral grow in needed areas. The scientists emphasize the urgency of finding solutions that can be implemented on a global scale, as the loss of coral reefs would have severe consequences for food security, coastal protection, and the economy. The script concludes with a call to action, emphasizing the need to move from planning to doing within the next decade to ensure the survival of coral reefs and, by extension, human species.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Coral Reefs
💡Bleaching
💡Assisted Evolution
💡Coral Larvae
💡Environmental Stress
💡Reef Ecologist
💡State-of-the-Art NASA Sensor
💡360-Degree Virtual Reality Camera
💡Scalability
💡Ecosystem Services
Highlights
Coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate due to warming waters, pollution, and overfishing, leading to a 50% loss in the last 30 years.
Reef ecologist Eric Hochberg and his team are photographing major reefs worldwide to understand the causes of coral loss.
The project in Palau uses a NASA sensor to gather data on reef health, aiming to identify patterns of damage globally.
Coral bleaching, caused by environmental stress, has led to significant losses, including 4,600 square miles since 2014.
Richard Vivaz's 50 Reefs project aims to document the 50 most protectable reefs using 360-degree virtual reality cameras.
The 50 Reefs VR technology allows scientists to study coral reefs in detail and has been compared to Google Street View underwater.
Local communities are engaged through VR to visualize and protect their underwater environments.
Coral reefs are crucial for underwater ecosystems, and their loss threatens the survival of many species.
Marine biologists are exploring 'assisted evolution' to create 'super corals' that can withstand environmental stress.
Ruth Gates' research involves breeding strong coral species and placing them among damaged reefs to study survival.
The importance of local support for coral reef conservation is emphasized, as without it, environmental protection efforts cannot succeed.
The urgency of coral reef conservation is highlighted, as the rates of environmental change outpace the reefs' capacity to adapt.
Scientists in Curacao are working on scalability solutions to repopulate reefs worldwide using coral larvae.
The use of maze cement tetrapods to spread coral larvae is a step towards large-scale reef restoration.
The project's success could provide a blueprint for global efforts to restore coral reefs on a massive scale.
The potential global impact of losing coral reefs includes food scarcity, loss of coastal security, and economic repercussions.
The call for a global effort to apply the scientific solutions to coral reef restoration is emphasized.
Transcripts
[Music]
a habitat still look beautiful but
corals are dying at a staggering rate
warming waters pollution and overfishing
have led to the loss of 50 percent of
the world's corals in the last 30 years
[Music]
if this is allowed to continue its
impact on the planet will be devastating
reef ecologist Eric Hochberg and his
team want to prove exactly why this is
happening
they've been photographing major reefs
around the world and are finishing their
project here in Palau these underwater
tests are conducted to verify
information gathered by a
state-of-the-art NASA sensor attached to
the team's plane is your hope that once
this is done you can then understand
what's damaging each reef in each
different part of the world or is it
also to understand what could prevent
further loss yes and yes so we're gonna
visit hundreds of reefs with the
airplane I'm going to look for patterns
this is exploratory science first time
we're getting this data set so we don't
know what we'll find
when the project is finished they will
have mapped more of the world's coral
reefs than ever before this is the
leading edge sensor this is been studied
this comprehensively is when you think
of something so valuable and so yeah
it's been done at Mars and it's been
done at the moon we just haven't done it
here this is the most extensive uniform
brief survey what's already now is the
corals are being stressed by extreme
changes to their environment when this
happens they lose their algae and turn
white in a phenomenon known as bleaching
there have been three worldwide
bleaching events in the last 20 years
the most devastating began in 2014
resulting in the loss of 4,600 square
miles of coral the Great Barrier Reef
the world's largest living structure
lost 30% of its coral threatening the
many species that rely on it for
survival richard vivaz is a former ad
exec who believes he can help by raising
awareness he launched a project called
50 reefs to identify and help document
the 50 most protectable reefs around the
world
working with Google richard has designed
a 360 degree virtual reality camera that
can capture remarkably detailed footage
the camera we developed for us
originally an idea of well let's reveal
the underwater world the scientists
heard about the camera and saw that this
was a way of potentially revolutionising
the study of coral reefs Richard's
footage is detailed enough for
scientific study and his team has
designed an algorithm it automatically
analyzes the images which means work
that would have taken years can now be
completed in hours and is your footage
available to the scientific community
it is literally Google Street View
underwater so anybody in the world can
go to any of the locations that weeping
- the idea is these 50 reefs become a
catalyst for action the 50 reefs team
also take their underwater imagery and
with VR headsets show local communities
what they have to lose there's a lot of
these local communities don't get
underwater and so with this technology
we can come into villages and show
people exactly what's under there
it was the idea to get them to love what
they see first and then be more
interested in protecting you yes I mean
you can have that one moment when you're
growing up when you you see something
new for the first time and it sticks
with you for the rest of your life you
can't protect an environment like this
without 100% local support coral reefs
are the foundation of the world's
underwater ecosystems if they die so
will the many species that depend on
them and the entire food chain up to the
fish that we consume could be lost but
does it surprise you that this isn't
front-page news that this isn't more of
an urgent issue to most of the public
people cells seems obsessed with
conservation of single species yet we've
got a million species under a more rapid
threat that's happening right now and I
think almost conservation needs a bit of
a rethink one of the world's leading
marine biologists is doing just that
pioneering research which could help
corals survive you know one thing that
we're exploring is that carl's might be
more entrepreneurial in terms of their
partners very early in their life
history we try to challenge them with
new types and see if they're oh yeah
that I'll give this one a try with the
right sperm and egg together and and
create the super Coral she calls this
process assisted evolution
[Music]
once Ruth has identified the strongest
species in the lab and help them breed
the samples are placed amongst reefs
that have already been badly damaged
these corals were selected because one
car on are the same species sitting
side-by-side one of them was healthy and
one of them was white bleached and our
question is why so these are the ones
that are really they're the survivors so
what's rumbling now with as climate
change intensifies is this the number of
times that the world is getting warmer
is more frequent and so the time between
events it isn't now we think submission
for Congress to recover but here they're
now facing repetitious
you know I always think of the planet is
a jigsaw puzzle and there are all these
pieces that must fit together to create
the picture that is our planet and when
you start pulling piece sounds like the
the coral reef or the polar ice sheet
and that lack of connection and
understanding of the way the planets in
the system is being affected will
ultimately wipe us out as species
species go extinct when they can no
longer be supported by the place that
they live that's what we're doing to
ourselves back in roots lab she uses a
multi-million dollar microscope which
shows in stunning detail exactly how
corals react to increasing stresses it's
the first I've seen you can really see
that they're living things
you almost communicating with the cars
because you can push it and you see as
soon as their stress and then they tell
you exactly what they feel and that's
you know that's kind of crazy isn't it
you're looking at a living organism a
reef would cross its strongest members
naturally over a thirty to fifty year
period we don't have 30 to 50 years
these images help Ruth experiment with
ways to build stronger species you know
originally this project was called a
super coral project ok I'm going out on
the reef I'm finding my best coral
performers I bring it into the lab I
trained it on environmental treadmill to
improve its capacity to withstand these
temperatures we then do what human
athletes often do which is to meet
somebody in the gym of the opposite sex
and have extremely gifted offs offspring
and we do exactly the same with our
corals
[Music]
there is an urgent urgent problem that
needs to be met with a very very
creative solution and I'll use an
example like the closure of the ozone
hole that was a radical change in
planetary behavior that enabled that to
occur and we all did it
roots work is looking like a viable
solution if it can be applied to scale
in Curacao
we met with the team of scientists
called Secor who are trying to solve the
problem of scalability they are here to
gather the larvae of a brain called the
first step in a plan to repopulate reefs
worldwide this coral species like most
of the corals is a hammock
each polyp is female so they produce
sperm and eggs they get together to what
we call acts firm bundles they released
you can see that really nicely very
exciting and they drift to the water
surface and this morning only happens
when there's a full moon it is related
to the full moon so those those corals
cannot walk around and say hey I'm ready
for sex yeah so they have to have this
arrangement okay be walls fall together
if you spot alone we won't find a
partner to wait
they're very tuned in about 6:30 it's
time to go
once in the water they rely on the sea
life to point them in the right
direction there's a certain
butterflyfish species once they get
around the brain coral get excited then
we know
[Music]
once the butterflyfish have identified
the right corals dirk and his team cover
them in tents to collect the sperm and
eggs which are about to be released
[Music]
after they've collected enough samples
they need to get them back to the lab
for fertilization in nature the corals
reproductive success rate is just 0.2
percent it's a huge step in solving the
problem of scalability the next problem
is how to spread these hundreds of
thousands of fertilized eggs across a
wide area these easily maze cement
tetrapods are covered with coral larvae
the tetrapods can then be easily
distributed wherever they are needed and
the coral can grow
once you figure out once you know you
can do it scale it all you have to do is
get enough of these some way that we can
essentially push them into the area
where they need to be it's another huge
step in finding a solution that can be
applied on a worldwide scale that's very
very important for restoration that you
look at the costs or dollars
it's worthless
[Music]
so you have a blueprint yes would you
actually need to put that in place
resources we need money so how much a
collective hundred million dollar
project that would create the networks
that would enable the science to be
convened with practitioners quickly if
the scale and cause of the coils
destruction can be perfectly understood
if it's most resilient species can be
selected or bred and if those species
can then be spread wherever they are
needed on a massive scale
the scientists may have solved one of
the most significant environmental
problems of our age can you describe
what the world looks like without a
world without reefs is a world where
there are places without food places
where there's nowhere to live they are
critically important to coastal security
and the economies the rates of change in
our environment are far outpacing the
intrinsic capacity of coral reefs to
survive if we don't mitigate at all
coral reefs will not be the thing that
we're worrying about it will be the
survival of our species this sounds like
the perfect project crying out for
someone to come in and say okay I'm
gonna call a a global effort to do
exactly how do we make these tools make
a difference on-site in many place
we have to be absolutely functional in
10 years we have to stop planning and we
need to start doing
[Music]
you
[Music]
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