Scientists discover way to help dying coral reefs

Scientists discover way to help dying coral reefs Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Coral reeds are home to about a third of all sea creatures Published 3 hours ago There's big news in the underwater world of coral reefs, as scientists have found a way that they believe could help dying ones recover. A new study published in the journal Science Advances sets out how scientists put identical corals next to each other, one healthy, and one that has suffered from bleaching.

After a couple of weeks sat next to each other, the researchers saw that the bleached reefs had almost fully recovered. Scientists are very excited about this discovery, as corals are a crucial part of our oceans ecosystem, and are currently under threat from rising sea temperatures. More on coral reefs How are scientists around the world trying to save coral reefs? Published 23 April Scientists discover 'catastrophic' levels of coral bleaching at Great Barrier Reef Published 24 January 2025 What is coral bleaching and how bad is it?

Published 9 April 2020 What is coral bleaching? Image source, Getty Images Image caption, When oceans get warmer than they should, corals turn white like this Coral reefs are really important for the planet's biodiversity. Although they cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, they are home to a third of all known marine species. Coral reefs are usually incredibly colourful. However, if the ocean gets too warm, they start to lose of a type of organism called algae that live in their tissues, and gives them their vibrant colour.

If this goes on for too long, they start to turn white, or 'bleach'. Danny Collins, an oceans PhD student at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and the lead author of the study, told BBC Newsround "these white, bleached corals are often treated as a lost cause," but he argues that their research shows this might not be the case. What did the scientists do? Image source, Danny Collins Image caption, The coral completely recovered in seven weeks during the experiment Scientists all over the world are trying to figure out how to help coral reefs , including Professor Steve Palumbi, working at America's Stanford University.

One day, he realised some samples had fallen over in a tank, so a healthy reef was touching a bleached one. He saw that at the point of contact, colour had been restored to the bleached bit of coral. Image source, Dan Griffin/GG Films Image caption, They look kind of cute, don't they? PhD. student Danny Collins was also studying coral reefs at the same university. He and some other scientists at Stanford set up an experiment - ten pairs of coral, one healthy and one bleached, were set up in a lab.

Each pair were of the same type, and five pairs were touching while the remainder were set a few millimetres apart. Image source, Danny Collins Image caption, This is what one of the pairs looked like under a microscope Danny Collins told BBC Newsround that the dying coral touching healthy coral "quickly recovered", showing the "white corals are not a lost cause and instead have amazing potential to bounce back and recover". He continued: "These experiments were done in aquariums with some limitations, but we hope this work makes people think differently about bleached corals and opens a door for new ways to recovering these white, dying corals, and make coral reefs healthy and colourful again."