Helping corals have sex

I'm sure you've learned about how The Great Barrier Reef is dying. I'm not gonna lie, there is a lot of bad news surrounding coral, especially after oceans had one of the hottest years on record in 2023. But what you probably haven't heard about is what scientists and conservationists around the world are doing to help. Thats the story I want to share today.

I went down to Miami, FL to talk with Shane Wever, of Reef Renewal USA, and Hannah Ditzler, of SECORE, to learn about a few different ways that coral are getting a hand from humans.

It's currently a two-pronged approach, using both fragmentation and assisted sexual reproduction.

Organizations like Reef Renewal are primarily using fragmentation to grow new coral. That's where fragments of established coral are gently broken or sawed off, then those parts are "planted" and they grow into a new individual. In this way, coral are kind of like plants! This technique is really good at growing lots of biomass quickly, and Reef Renewal USA has played a part in developing and refining techniques for growing coral, both in the lab and in the ocean.

SECORE, on the other hand, is addressing a different problem: declining genetic diversity among reefs. As reefs bleach and die off, they lose the opportunity to create new coral with genetic mutations that might help the new generation survive hotter environments. Where fragmentation can produce volume, assisted sexual reproduction is able to produce new generations that have these genetic mutations.

But how does it all work? Is it working? And are coral even animals??

Learn all this and more by watching now!