<
https://www.sciencealert.com/feeding-corals-with-this-supplement-could-help-us-to-regrow-the-great-barrier-reef>
"The corals we find in the world's reefs have their own microbiomes, and
scientists are figuring out how to feed them probiotic 'supplements' – to try
and save them for future generations.
A baby coral begins life as a swimming larva adrift in the ocean. When it is
big enough, the larva sinks and secures itself to the seafloor – or, if it's
lucky, a healthy reef. Once settled, it begins to clone itself.
Shallow-water corals, made up of myriad different organisms, are essentially
colonies of tiny animals collaborating with a marine algae called
zooxanthellae, which feeds the coral and helps produce the calcium carbonate
that forms reefs over thousands – or even millions – of years.
While the symbiosis between corals and zooxanthellae is somewhat well
understood, scientists are just beginning to explore the full extent to which
corals rely on other kinds of microbes.
Just like the delicate balance of microbes in our own guts, coral microbiomes
can be disrupted by changes in their environment: ocean acidification, marine
warming, bleaching events, and other stressors, most wrought by anthropogenic
climate change and other human activity.
While climate action is needed to stop the damage rampant fossil fuel use is
wreaking on the planet's ecosystems, conservation biologists are also looking
at ways to undo the harms we've already caused – in this case, restoring coral
reefs."
Via Rixty Dixet.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
