Coral reef ecosystems are one of Earth's most diverse and fundamental ecosystems. While reefs can often acclimate to environmental disturbances, recent intensification in global warming and human activities have severely challenged their natural resilience.
Aquaculture for Coral Larvae:
One of the possible solutions to restoring corals and damaged reefs is by producing coral larvae in aquaculture settings to a stage of metamorphic competence, where they attach to the substrate. Culturing the coral larvae increases their survival by protecting them during their vulnerable growth stages and ensuring they settle in optimal locations. This process helps restore reef structure by allowing corals to withstand environmental challenges better and support long-term recovery. While there is technology to control metamorphosis more advancements are needed to accurately predict and control coral reproduction and out-planting methods.
Assisted Evolution:
Scientists selectively breed corals to enhance their resilience to environmental stressors, particularly rising ocean temperatures caused by climate change. This process is referred to as assisted evolution. Corals that demonstrate resilience to extreme heat and other stressors are selectively bred to pass on these adaptive traits to future generations. By cross-breeding these more resilient coral with other species of coral, the new coral strains would be better equipped to withstand environmental changes such as heat stress, ocean acidification, and disease. The cross-breed coral would be transplanted onto damaged coral reefs to promote restoration and help rebuild the suffering coral populations.
While significant progress has been made in increasing coral larvae survival and enhancing resilience through assisted evolution, further procedural developments are essential. These efforts hold the potential to restore damaged reefs, ensuring coral populations can endure environmental stressors and thrive in changing ocean conditions. Long-term success will depend on refining these methods and giving them more funding to continue supporting our coral reefs.
References
Australian Institute of Marine Science. (n.d.). Assisted evolution. AIMS. https://www.aims.gov.au/research-topics/environmental-issues/climate-change/assisted-evolution
National Research Council (US) Committee on Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems. (1992). Restoration technology. In Restoration of aquatic ecosystems: Science, technology, and public policy (pp. 180-201). National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223025/#:~:text=Restoration%20Technology
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