Scientists Are Breeding Super Coral That Can Survive Climate Change

Summary

The 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

00:00

🌊 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.

05:02

🔬 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.

10:04

🌱 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.

Keywords

💡Coral Reefs

Coral reefs are underwater ecosystems characterized by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals. They are biodiversity hotspots, providing habitats for numerous marine species. In the video, coral reefs are highlighted as being under severe threat due to warming waters, pollution, and overfishing, leading to a 50% loss in the last 30 years. The script emphasizes the importance of these ecosystems and the urgent need for conservation efforts.

💡Bleaching

Bleaching refers to the whitening of corals due to the loss of symbiotic algae, which is typically caused by environmental stressors such as rising water temperatures. The video mentions three worldwide bleaching events in the last 20 years, including one in 2014 that resulted in significant coral loss, underscoring the vulnerability of these ecosystems to climate change.

💡Assisted Evolution

Assisted evolution is a concept where scientists intervene in natural evolutionary processes to enhance the survival of species. In the context of the video, marine biologists are exploring this approach to create 'super corals' that can withstand the stresses of a changing environment. This involves breeding corals with the strongest resistance to environmental changes, aiming to accelerate the natural selection process.

💡Coral Larvae

Coral larvae are the early developmental stage of coral polyps, which disperse into the ocean to settle and grow into new coral colonies. The script discusses the collection of these larvae as part of a plan to repopulate damaged reefs, indicating a method for coral restoration and highlighting the importance of the reproductive cycle in coral conservation efforts.

💡Environmental Stress

Environmental stress in the context of the video refers to the various pressures placed on coral reefs, such as rising ocean temperatures, pollution, and overfishing. These stresses can lead to coral bleaching and death, as珊瑚 lose their symbiotic algae and turn white. The video emphasizes the need to understand and mitigate these stresses to protect coral reefs.

💡Reef Ecologist

A reef ecologist is a scientist who studies the ecology of coral reefs, including their structure, function, and interactions with the environment. In the video, reef ecologist Eric Hochberg and his team are conducting research to understand the factors contributing to coral reef decline. Their work involves using advanced technology to map and study reefs, contributing to the broader understanding of these ecosystems.

💡State-of-the-Art NASA Sensor

The script mentions a state-of-the-art NASA sensor used to gather data on coral reefs. This technology is likely a remote sensing tool that can provide detailed information about the health and structure of reefs from aerial or satellite platforms. The use of such advanced tools in the video underscores the importance of innovative technology in studying and preserving coral reefs.

💡360-Degree Virtual Reality Camera

A 360-degree virtual reality camera, as mentioned in the script, is a device that captures panoramic images or videos, providing an immersive viewing experience. In the video, such a camera is used to document coral reefs in high detail, allowing for scientific study and public education. This technology is also used to create underwater 'Google Street View' and to raise awareness among local communities about the importance of coral reefs.

💡Scalability

Scalability in the context of the video refers to the ability to expand a solution or method to address a problem on a larger scale. The script discusses the challenges and efforts to scale up coral restoration techniques, such as breeding and distributing coral larvae, to restore damaged reefs worldwide. This concept is crucial for the success of conservation efforts aimed at global reef recovery.

💡Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans obtain from ecosystems, such as food, coastal protection, and recreational opportunities. The video highlights the importance of coral reefs as providers of these services, emphasizing the potential loss of these benefits if reefs are not protected. The script underscores the broader implications of coral reef decline for human societies and economies.

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]