Researcher discovers rare ocean phenomenon serving as unlikely ally to reefs: 'Could offer a blueprint'
Marine scientist Dr. Catherine Kim documented Pyrosoma atlanticum — pyrosomes, a strange sea creature made up of a colony of tiny plankton — moving in swarms along the northern Australian coast, where coral can actively feed on them.
She published the study in the journal Ecology to share a mechanism that could make coral reefs more resistant to climate change.
Dr. Kim studied the Coral Triangle within the young nation of Timor-Leste, a Southeast Asia/Pacific biodiversity hot spot. She found that corals can be more opportunistic than vulnerable and digest large plankton when given the opportunity.
She observed a pyrosome bloom driven by a major ocean current transporting large amounts of water through the Indonesian seas from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian. This flow provides extensive water movement to regulate water temperatures and deliver cooler waters filled with nutrients during critical coral growth times.
"Timor-Leste's reefs could offer a blueprint for coral resilience in a warming world," Dr. Kim said. This research finding is encouraging because it offers hope for coral reefs struggling because of our extreme weather patterns and our steadily warming planet.
Coral reefs face many environmental challenges because of the prevalence of microplastics and the impacts of human drilling for dirty energy sources.
Fortunately, many scientists have been studying the issues affecting our world's coral reefs and finding ways to save future coral populations. Satellite mapping, for example, can be useful for monitoring coral reefs and protecting these fragile marine ecosystems.
From this Australian study, scientists can gain a better understanding of how ocean currents and food availability create coral reef refuges. High-energy prey help offset the stress coral reefs face in order to survive and grow faster with more efficient photosynthesis.
Observing these effects can help researchers identify which reefs have more readily available food and which need more attention because of poor resilience.
Should we be harnessing the ocean to power our homes?
Absolutely
Leave it be
It depends
I'm not sure
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
You can take local action to protect coral reefs where you live by learning about what human activities impact them and sharing what you learn with people you know.
Coral reefs are part of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet and support more species than anything else. Beyond their ecological balance benefits, they hold the promise of developing drugs to treat human diseases and protecting coastlines from storms and floods caused by increasingly extreme weather events.
The study's author concluded her report by recommending additional research in this field by stating: "Identifying and managing localized reef refugia includes determining whether these upwelling areas provide more food for corals, all of which is fundamental to understanding how to sustain reefs in the future."
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Remote Controlled 'Cyborg' Beetles Could Help Rescue Crews During Natural Disasters
Remote-controlled "cyborg beetles" could be used to help discover people trapped in collapsed buildings or mines, according to new research. Australian scientists have equipped darkling beetles with removable backpacks that can be controlled using a video game remote. Dr Thang Vo-Doan, a researcher at the University of Queensland who led the study, explained that the backpacks control the beetle's antenna and forewings through the use of electrodes. "Beetles possess many natural gifts that make them the masters of climbing and manoeuvring in small, complex spaces such as dense rubble, that are difficult for robots to navigate," Dr Vo-Doan told Scimex. "Our work harnesses these gifts and adds programmable controls that allow for precise directional guidance, without affecting the lifespan of the beetle." Research Assistant Lachlan Fitzgerald further noted that the insects can be directed to move side-to-side and climb vertical walls. "While robots at this scale have made strides in locomotion, the transition from horizontal surfaces to walls remains a formidable challenge for them," Mr Fitzgerald said. He also highlighted that the insect's "sophisticated sensing capabilities" and "soft environmental interactions," which a synthetic bug would lack, make them ideal for disaster environments. Dr Vo-Doan stated that while a tethered power supply was used for the climbing test, the beetles had also shown the ability to climb with a battery equivalent to their own body weight. "If people have been trapped under an extensive amount of rubble, you want to be able to find them as quickly as possible and start planning how to get them out," Dr Vo-Doan said. "We hope to produce a tool that can easily move through chaotic environments to pinpoint a person's exact location, provide clues to any injuries, and give rescuers a picture of what needs to be done to free them."
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
What will the Earth be like in 500 years?
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you'd like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@ What will the Earth be like in 500 years? — Lotte, Brookline, Massachusetts Scientists can make some pretty accurate forecasts about the future. But predicting what the Earth will be like 500 years from now is a difficult task because there are many factors at play. Imagine Christopher Columbus in 1492 trying to predict the Americas of today! We do know that two main types of processes change our planet: One involves natural cycles, like the way the planet rotates and moves around the Sun, and the other is caused by life forms, especially humans. The Earth is constantly changing. It wobbles, the angle of its tilt changes and even its orbit changes to bring the Earth closer to or farther from the Sun. These changes happen over tens of thousands of years, and they have been responsible for ice ages. Five hundred years isn't very long in terms of geology. The second big influence on the planet is living things. The effects of life on the planet are harder to predict. Disrupting one part of an ecosystem can knock a lot of other things off kilter. Humans in particular are changing the Earth in many ways. They cut down forests and break up important wildlife habitats to build cities and grow crops. They move invasive species around the planet, disrupting ecosystems. They also contribute to global warming. People are causing the climate to change, mostly by burning fossil fuels that release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the planet and atmosphere can handle. Normally, greenhouse gases trap heat from the Sun the way the glass of a greenhouse does, keeping Earth warmer than it would be otherwise. That can be useful – until we get too much. The result of too much carbon dioxide is that temperatures rise, and that can lead to dangerously hot summer days and melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica. Melting ice sheets raise the oceans, causing coastal areas to flood. That's what Earth is facing right now. These changes could lead to a very different planet in 500 years, depending in large part on how willing humans are to change their ways. A warming planet can also contribute to extreme weather like heat waves, storms and droughts that can change the land. All of Earth's living forms are at risk. Looking back at the past 500 years, the living part of the Earth, called the biosphere, has changed dramatically. The number of humans has increased from around 500 million people to over 7.5 billion today. More than 800 plant and animal species have become extinct because of human activities over that period. As the human population grows, other species have less space to roam. Sea level rise means even less land, and rising temperatures will send many species migrating to better climates. Not all of Earth's changes are caused by humans, but humans have worsened some of them. A major challenge today is getting people to stop doing things that create problems, like burning fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. This is one global problem that requires countries worldwide and the people within them to work toward the same goal. Getting back to Christopher Columbus, he probably couldn't have imagined a highway full of cars or a mobile phone. Technology will no doubt improve over the next 500 years, too. But so far, tech solutions haven't scaled up fast enough to solve climate change. To keep doing the same things and expect someone else to fix the mess later would be a risky, expensive gamble. So, the Earth in 500 years may be unrecognizable. Or, if humans are willing to change their behaviors, it may persist with its vibrant forests, oceans, fields and cities for many more centuries, along with its most successful residents, humankind. Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you'd like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@ Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live. And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you're wondering, too. We won't be able to answer every question, but we will do our best. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Michael A. Little, Binghamton University, State University of New York and William D. MacDonald, Binghamton University, State University of New York Read more: Scientists understood physics of climate change in the 1800s – thanks to a woman named Eunice Foote Extreme heat waves in a warming world don't just break records – they shatter them Coral reefs are dying as climate change decimates ocean ecosystems vital to fish and humans The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tragic beach discovery sparks fresh alarm over ‘horror' issue in Australia: ‘Devastating'
One of the country's leading marine biologists is warning there may be long-term ecological consequences in the wake of the toxic algae bloom currently killing thousands of animals in waters of the South Australian coast. Professor Shauna Murray, from the UTS School of Life Sciences, said she doesn't believe the crisis has been managed poorly, in response to some commentary earlier this week insisting the event would have received much more attention and swifter action if it had impacted eastern states like New South Wales or Queensland. But, Murray said, there is an opportunity for Australia to take global leadership when it comes to marine ecosystem threats. For months now, many thousands of marine animals, spanning over 390 species, have been washing ashore dead along beaches in the south, with the toxic algae Karenia mikimotoi to blame. Some believe that figure is modest, with not all deaths being witnessed, and incidents being heavily reliant on reporting. In an interview with Yahoo News Australia, Murray said she believes "it's too early to say exactly what factors" are driving this particular harmful algal bloom (HAB) of Karenia mikimotoi, though in general, climate change is "certainly having long-term impacts on HABS". "Every species of harmful algae has highly individual conditions that it grows under, and these vary. Karenia mikimotoi is normally a temperate species, which blooms in the north of China, the north Atlantic, and other countries," she explained. "However, having said that, it could be that a one-degree increase in water temperatures over an extended time frame could be contributing to the growth of the species. Other conditions, such as currents, water nutrients, and other factors, are also contributing. HABs are almost always due to a specific combination of factors unique to the algal species." Murray believes there could be long-term ecological consequences, given that after a Karenia species bloom in Wellington Harbour in New Zealand in the 1990s, it took about three to five years for the ecosystem to recover. Though the current bloom involves similar Karenia species and brevetoxins, it is impacting a much larger area. "Hence, while I think habitat collapse is unlikely, I do think that we will need to closely monitor fish and invertebrate species abundances to understand impacts," Murray said. On social media, dozens of individual examples continue to emerge from beaches around the state that have been inundated with carcasses, attracting tens of thousands of responses from upset Australians, questioning if more could have been done. "This is literal horror," one person said. "We should all be losing it at this. This is devastating," another said, with each comment attracting hundreds of likes. 'Toxic to anything with gills': algal bloom spreading Algal bloom turns coast into a 'marine graveyard' Warning to Aussie beachgoers after deadly discovery in waves But according to Murray, the response was as appropriate as it could have been. "I think the event has been handled as well as it could be, given that there are very few (literally about five to 10) marine HAB experts in Australia, including myself," she said. Murray said Australia has an opportunity to develop a strong response to harmful algal blooms in future, which could serve as a model for other countries. She noted that threats to marine environments like coral bleaching and kelp forest dieback are well known, and the increasing incidence of harmful algal blooms is one of the more manageable challenges. "This is not a failing. HABs are very well managed in Australian waters relative to the marine aquaculture industry, as they are regulated, monitored and managed, and have been for many years," she said. "This particular SA situation is quite unusual in the length of time the HAB has persisted and the area over which it has extended, as well as the fish killing mechanisms and hence the wider impacts. I think we need to learn from this and build more expertise in the field, so that more people have the relevant knowledge and skills for when situations like this arise next time." While federal governments typically don't get involved in matters concerning state waters, Murray said it may now have a role to play given the scale of the outbreak, particularly in funding research and future monitoring systems. "I believe the best role would be for them to fund research and set up systems for future monitoring, so that if something like this were to happen again, we would be prepared," she said. "So far, we have learnt that the main microalgal species is Karenia mikimotoi. But it's not the only species of Karenia present, and it makes up around 50 per cent or more of the microalgae in the water in some regions, with the rest being a mixed standard marine microalgal community. "We still need to understand the identities of the other HAB species, their abundance and distribution, the microalgal producers of brevetoxins, and the toxic mechanisms of other Karenia species present. "We also need to fully investigate oceanographic conditions before, during and hopefully following the HAB to develop models to understand the drivers of this one." Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
