Barber, G. (2022, September 28). Stephen Palumbi Says “Super Reefs” Can Help Save Dying
Coral. Wired. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from https://www.wired.com/story/rewired-2022-super-reefs/
Stephen Palumbi works as a scientist at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station and has recently been studying ‘Super Reefs’ and how we can use them to strengthen coral and prevent bleaching. While most coral experience bleaching due to heating of the ocean, super reefs are “ diverse, they’re functional, they have a wide variety of corals and fish species throughout”. They have evolved to be able to resist heat and continue as a thriving ecosystem and habitat for marine life. Palumbi’s goal is to study super reefs, and apply the lessons learned to regular coral in hopes of saving and restoring them. Currently, Palumbi and his team are growing super reefs in nurseries, hoping to plant them across global seas.
Palumbi is hard at work, finding ways to restore the beautiful coral reefs of our oceans. The idea of learning from more evolved coral to increase the chances of survival for regular coral seems simple, but involves extensive research of various warm patches of the ocean and juxtaposing the two corals. Bleaching is occurring rapidly as global warming continues to worsen, but if the correct work is done and we learn to apply the evolutinoanry process of super reefs to bleached coral, coral stands a chance at survival. While the work may take a while, I think this is a great idea and opens the possibility of a brighter future for coral reefs across the world.
Thea- I just read about these Super Reefs. Great to get some promising news once in a while. I’m trying to imagine what they will find out in regards to what makes these reefs more resilient and tolerant of the climate change. I have to assume it’s in the DNA. If that’s the case- can you imagine how that info would help other reefs? Are future reefs going to be GMOs??? What do you think about that? If they could do it, would it be worth experimenting with in the wild?
Thanks for being totally on top of your topic all year. You produced some great reporting. Hope your topic kept you interested.
I think it is something in their DNA and their ability to adapt, and even if we need to genetically modify future reefs to enhance them to the level of super reefs, I think it would be worth it to save the reefs!