An Innovative Approach to Coral Restoration

Often called the 'rainforests of the sea', coral reefs are home to more than 830,000 species making them one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. Corals make up only 0.2% of the seabed but house up to a quarter of all marine life making them invaluable to the preservation of aquatic life. They are quite sensitive to heat and acidification which they've become increasingly vulnerable to in recent times due to human activities such as climate change, ocean pollution, and disruptive fishing practices. These activities cause coral bleaching, a phenomenon that results in stressed corals turning white and no longer being able to sustain a viable habitat for diverse organisms. With a 1.5°C temperature rise, 70% to 90% of the world's reefs could vanish, possibly disappearing altogether by 2070, as suggested by some scientists. 

Current coral restoration efforts are slow, costly, and inefficient as they do not restore sufficient corals in time. To improve this, Dr Foster is testing a system she hopes will revive reefs more quickly.

Corals are grafted onto plugs, which are then fitted to a base. It involves grafting coral fragments into small plugs inserted into a moulded base. Those bases are then placed in batches on the seabed. Dr Foster designed the base, shaped like a flat disc with grooves and a handle, made from limestone-type concrete. "We wanted it to be something we could mass produce at a reasonable price," explains Dr Foster. "And easy for a diver or a remotely-operated vehicle to deploy". The results thus far have been notably favourable, as Dr. Foster has described how they've implemented various prototypes of their coral skeletons, conducting tests on four different species, all of which are showing remarkable growth. She also notes that they are effectively shortening the time required for the necessary calcification growth to reach the desired base size.

Dr. Foster's start-up, Coral Maker, is collaborating with Autodesk to use AI-controlled robots for coral propagation, aiming to automate repetitive tasks like grafting and handling coral fragments, but they face challenges moving the robots to the field due to delicate coral handling, electronics protection, and high costs. Meanwhile, organisations are exploring methods like coral seeding, breeding resilient "super coral," geo-engineering, and using sound to attract fish for reef restoration, recognizing the complexity of saving coral reefs in a warming world. 

Innovative and positive research and action towards this is the way to go! While Dr. Page claims that there is no 'silver bullet’ solution to this complex ecological problem; she remains optimistic about working towards effective and scalable restorative solutions.

SOURCE:

BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66656369