KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 A team of scientists from the University of Miami, the Florida Aquarium and Tela Marine in Honduras is working together to transplant crossbred coral fragments onto a reef off Miami\u2019s coastline that was devastated by coral bleaching two years ago.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re looking for ways to help reefs survive increased ocean temperatures caused by global warming and climate change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the end of a very long process,\u201d Andrew Baker, professor of marine biology and ecology at the University of Miami\u2019s Rosenstiel School and director of the Coral Reef Futures Lab, said Tuesday as divers planted the corals off Miami.<\/p>\n
The plan of introducing corals from the Caribbean evolved over the past few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had this idea that we really needed to try to help Florida\u2019s coral reef by introducing more diversity from around the Caribbean, recognizing that some of the biggest threats to corals, like climate change, are really global phenomena and if you try to have Florida\u2019s reefs save themselves on their own, we could give them some outside help,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n
Coral breeding<\/a> has also been done in Hawaii, where in 2021, scientists were working to speed up the coral\u2019s evolutionary clock to breed \u201csuper corals\u201d that can better withstand the impacts of global warming.<\/p>\n Why crossbreed with corals from Honduras?<\/p>\n Baker\u2019s group teamed with the Florida Aquarium and Tela Marine, bringing in fragments of corals from a warm reef off of Tela, Honduras, which spawned in tanks at the aquarium. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were able to cross the spawn from those corals, the sperm and the eggs, to produce babies. One parent from Florida, one parent from Honduras,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n They chose the reef off of Tela because the water is about 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the water off the coast of Florida. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd yet the corals in those environments, and especially the Elkhorn corals, are really thriving,\u201d Baker said. <\/p>\n He noted that there are extensive beds that are hundreds of meters long, full of flourishing Elkhorn. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd yet they survive there despite really warm conditions and also quite nutrient-polluted waters,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n The conditions are similar to those Florida will face over the next century, Baker said. <\/p>\n It\u2019s also the first time international crossbreeding of corals has been permitted for planting onto wild reefs. <\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019re really excited to see how these do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The hope is the corals will be more \u201cthermally tolerant,\u201d which Baker and the team will be testing throughout the summer. <\/p>\n What are Elkhorn corals?<\/p>\n Elkhorn corals are some of Florida\u2019s most iconic species and are valuable because they form the crest of the reef, Baker said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the reef is what protects shorelines from storms and flooding. So if you have healthy Elkhorn coral populations, you have a great reef that is acting almost like a speed bump over which waves and storms pass and dissipate their energy before they hit the coast,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Elkhorn corals are in serious decline, thanks in part to the coral bleaching in 2023<\/a> and warming sea temperatures, Baker said. <\/p>\n