Coral ‘transplants’ could bring back reefs quicker than we thought possible
ENVIRONMENT
It’s the positive environmental news we all need to hear: efforts to heal the natural world can be successful… and over relatively short time scales. At least, that’s according to scientists in the UK and Indonesia who led a project that has managed to successfully regrow damaged coral reefs in just four years.
Most of the world’s coral reefs are now under threat, with some even damaged beyond repair. But this new research brings hope.
“The speed of recovery that we saw was incredible,” said Dr Ines Lange from the University of Exeter, author of the study published in the journal Current Biology. “We didn’t expect a full recovery of reef framework production after only four years.”
Coral reefs are vital habitats for marine life and also protect coastal areas from storms and erosion. One such coastal area is South Sulawesi, a province in Indonesia, where one of the largest coral reef restoration projects in the world is currently taking place.
Known as the Mars Coral Reef Restoration Programme, the project builds hexagonal ‘Reef Stars’ (sand-coated steel structures) and attaches young corals to them. They then place the stars in reefs damaged by blast fishing, a practice that uses explosives to trap fish.
The team observed corals growing onto the structures. When corals grow they add calcium carbonate to the frames, but at the same time, certain fish species and sea urchins eroded the carbon away. This bec
