Can We Save Coral Reefs Using Underwater Loudspeakers? (boston.com) 26
"The desperate search for ways to help the world's coral reefs rebound from the devastating effects of climate change has given rise to some radical solutions," reports the Washington Post. There's coral "nurseries" in the Caribbean, while Hawaiian scientists are trying to breed a new and more resilient type of coral.
But at least one team focused on the herbivorous fish which improve the microbiomes around the reefs -- party by eating the seaweed that would otherwise compete with the coral. And they think the solution lies in sounds: On Friday, British and Australian researchers rolled out another unorthodox strategy that they say could help restoration efforts: broadcasting the sounds of healthy reefs in dying ones. In a six-week field experiment, researchers placed underwater loudspeakers in patches of dead coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef and played audio recordings taken from healthy reefs... The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that twice as many fish flocked to the dead coral patches where healthy reef sounds were played compared with the patches where no sound was played... According to the study, the number of species present in the reef patches where healthy sounds were played increased by 50 percent over the other patches. The new fish populations included species from all parts of the food web, such as scavengers, herbivores and predatory fish. Importantly, the fish that arrived at the patches tended to stay there...
The technique, if it can be replicated on larger scales, could offer scientists another tool to revive coral reefs around the world that have been ravaged by climate change, overfishing and pollution in recent years. Scientists have warned that climate change may already be accelerating too fast for some reefs to recover at all and that conservation efforts are not keeping pace with the devastation. Severe coral bleaching triggered by extreme heat waves killed off 50 percent of the Great Barrier Reef, the planet's largest coral reef, in 2016 and 2017. Such bleaching events -- which occur when the nutrient-rich and color-providing algae that live in corals are expelled because of heat stress -- are occurring four times as frequently as they did in the 1980s, as The Washington Post has reported.
But at least one team focused on the herbivorous fish which improve the microbiomes around the reefs -- party by eating the seaweed that would otherwise compete with the coral. And they think the solution lies in sounds: On Friday, British and Australian researchers rolled out another unorthodox strategy that they say could help restoration efforts: broadcasting the sounds of healthy reefs in dying ones. In a six-week field experiment, researchers placed underwater loudspeakers in patches of dead coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef and played audio recordings taken from healthy reefs... The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that twice as many fish flocked to the dead coral patches where healthy reef sounds were played compared with the patches where no sound was played... According to the study, the number of species present in the reef patches where healthy sounds were played increased by 50 percent over the other patches. The new fish populations included species from all parts of the food web, such as scavengers, herbivores and predatory fish. Importantly, the fish that arrived at the patches tended to stay there...
The technique, if it can be replicated on larger scales, could offer scientists another tool to revive coral reefs around the world that have been ravaged by climate change, overfishing and pollution in recent years. Scientists have warned that climate change may already be accelerating too fast for some reefs to recover at all and that conservation efforts are not keeping pace with the devastation. Severe coral bleaching triggered by extreme heat waves killed off 50 percent of the Great Barrier Reef, the planet's largest coral reef, in 2016 and 2017. Such bleaching events -- which occur when the nutrient-rich and color-providing algae that live in corals are expelled because of heat stress -- are occurring four times as frequently as they did in the 1980s, as The Washington Post has reported.
Is Betteridge's Law Valid? (Score:2)
Just asking.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes.
Loudspeakers underwater to encourage coral reef growth can't POSSIBLY have unintended effects, amiright?
Though I expect the unintended consequences will call for even more "solutions", so it may not be bad for the people who come up with "fixes" to our many problems....
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well... actually I was questioning Betteridge's Law in general... with a headline...
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...or is this one different somehow?
Yes, this one is different. Despite what they tell you on Fox News.
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...or is this one different somehow?
Yes, this one is different. Despite what they tell you on Fox News.
Corals have been around for half a billion years. They have had worse than Fox news.
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There is coral in various different climates such as Great barrier reef and in the tropics. Having been to the tropics you can see that the reef grows very well. The ones that do best are in warmer waters. So if climate change is warmer then it would be great for Coral and it will extend to new areas. This does not get big funding however so they have make up some other story
Re:Not climate change... (Score:5, Informative)
Actually your source clearly says it is not "just" climate change. Climate change clearly plays a key role. "Not just climate change" is very different from "not climate change at all".
In the particular case of the Florida keys agriculture played a primary role.
In the case of the Great Barrier Reef climate change played a primary role, so the study you sourced does not really apply to the Great Barrier Reef. So far most bleaching events are almost entirely due to warmer water plus ocean acidification, but it does remain important to find the actual causes and not just assume all events are carbon dioxide related (even though the majority are).
https://aamboceanservice.blob.... [windows.net]
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Actually your source clearly says it is not "just" climate change. Climate change clearly plays a key role. "Not just climate change" is very different from "not climate change at all".
Wow. You'd think all the human-made climate-change deniers are completely honest and scientifically correct and then you stumble upon something like this! Oh how well it's just a minor dent on the whole picture! ...
Baiting fish to unhealthy environment? (Score:3)
Begs the question: will this hurt the fish? If they determine a reef is healthy by the sound and we lure them to an unhealthy one... what will happen to the fish?
Re: (Score:2)
The idea to breed and spread coral species that are more tolerant to temperature changes seems much more plausible and promising to me. After all, there are already many places in the oceans where temperature fluctuates much more than tolerated by typical tropical reefs, and there are certain species of corals to be found in those areas.
No (Score:1)
It will bother the other sea creatures and activists can never compromise.
fake news for fish (Score:3)
They will figure out that the reef is dead eventually, or they may starve first. That reminds me very little of the strategy for catching a rabbit for dinner--hide behind a tree and make noises like a carrot.
No, we.can save them by not fucking up the planet! (Score:1)
What is this? Perfect oil lamp engineering hour?
No, we don't need cobbled-together crutches. Stop shitting where you eat! Stop throwing thrash on your bed! Stop farting into your oxygen tank! This isn't rocket science!
Just use our damn awesome giant fusion reactor in the sky for energy, and stop turbo-rusting old tree carcasses and rotten dinosaurs like it could go on forever.
And right fucking now, pretty please?
We are not interested in your thefts^Wprofits. We are interested in our kids and pretty corals a
No. (Score:1)
Can We Save Coral Reefs Using Underwater Loudspeakers?
No. What a stupid question. The question is lame.
That's A Great Idea (Score:2)
Problem solved (Score:2)
We solved the problem of global warming. All we have to do now is allow market forces to prevail and allow ourselves to declare victory. We know how to build carbon neutral, and affordable energy sources. We do this with onshore windmills, hydroelectric dams, and nuclear fission reactors. We know how to create carbon neutral transportation. We do this with nuclear powered cargo ships, electric trains and cars, and synthesized hydrocarbon fuels for everything else. We know how to build carbon negative
headline ambiguity (Score:2)
Can We Save Coral Reefs Using Underwater Loudspeakers?
Oh sure, it's all well and good wanting to save those music-loving coral reefs that have installed good sound equipment and are using underwater loudspeakers, but what about coral reefs that don't have them? Is this fair to poor coral reefs??
Nature... (Score:1)