Reef Remodeling: How Reef Carpets Could Change How We View Reef Restoration

Coral reefs are one of the most important marine ecosystems in the world, but climate change and other stressors are pushing on their wellbeing and leading to degradation. That’s where reef restoration comes in, where scientists and volunteers work to reproduce tiny corals and transplant them onto degraded reefs—but this restoration mostly focused on survivability, and not variety. In a new approach, a group of scientists have constituted what they call “Reef Carpets”, which are patches of restoration efforts filled with biodiversity. They found that these “Carpets” jumpstart a whole reef ecosystem, leading to better outcomes in the long run.

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Relief for the Reef – Connecting Coral Resilience with Restoration Efforts

Coral reefs are ecologically important for both marine and land species, offering support for high biodiversity. They also represent one of the most threatened ecosystems, especially as a result of climate change and human intervention. Due to their vulnerability and significance, many efforts have been made to restore these vital ecosystems, yet the worldwide success rates for coral reef restoration aren’t nearly as high as scientists had hoped. So, now the question is: is there anything that can be done to make coral reefs and their restoration more resilient to the threats they face?

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Can We Save Our Corals? Using Investment Planning to Conserve Coral Reefs

By now, most of us have heard the news that climate change is threatening our oceans. Rising carbon dioxide levels due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions into the earth’s atmosphere are warming our oceans and causing a multitude of other adverse effects on our planet. In particular, these changing environmental conditions are wreaking havoc on the world’s coral reefs. Meanwhile, conservationists around the world have been working to mitigate coral reef degradation, with little overall success. However, a recent study describes a new approach taken from investment theory that could shed a hopeful light on coral conservation efforts.

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Fishing for Answers– Cyanide Detection in Aquarium Fish

Up to 10% of our salt water aquarium fish are caught through a dangerous technique known as cyanide fishing. While this practice is heavily outlawed for its reckless environmental consequences, it is nearly impossible to tell how a fish was caught by the time it reaches the US– until now. Breen et al., suggests a new rapid response test for the presence of cyanide in fish as a way to help stop this harmful fishing practice.

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