{"id":871003,"date":"2026-10-05T00:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T00:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/871003\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T00:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T00:18:13","slug":"underwater-umbrellas-could-protect-coral-reefs-from-heat-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/871003\/","title":{"rendered":"Underwater Umbrellas Could Protect Coral Reefs From Heat Damage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Installing underwater coral umbrellas by Nova Southeastern University in Florida \/ Journal Frontiers in Marine Science<\/p>\n

Underwater umbrellas could protect coral reefs from heat\u2014and even partly reverse the bleaching, according to a new study by Florida scientists.<\/p>\n

Temporary shades placed over particularly vulnerable Caribbean corals can mitigate damage from high sea temperatures driven by global warming, which turns them ghostly white\u2014and eventually kills them.<\/p>\n

Restoring dead reefs is possible, but the process is difficult and expensive, and still leaves them vulnerable to future heatwaves. Now, scientists believe they\u2019ve found a new way to protect them\u2014at least, on a small scale.<\/p>\n

Study lead author Dr. Karen Neely explained that shading can\u2019t cool the water, but it prevents ultraviolet (UV) and irradiance damage, which worsens the heat damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2023 coral bleaching event in Florida essentially wiped out branching corals, and at some inshore sites had a devastating impact on brain corals,\u201d she explained<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study stemmed directly from that event: we wanted to provide proof of concept for tools to save targeted corals in similar future events.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, in the summer of 2024, Dr. Neely and her team from the Nova Southeastern University in Florida set up twenty custom-made shades overtop 10 different colonies of two species of brain coral, Pseudodiploria clivosa and Colpophyllia natans\u2014along with 20 matching corals to act as controls.<\/p>\n

\"\"Installing underwater Coral umbrellas by Nova Southeastern University in Florida (SWNS)<\/p>\n

The parasol-like shades, made of pvc pipe and nylon fabric, were temporarily fixed to the seabed with cord and floated a foot above each coral (30cm).<\/p>\n

They reduced light by 60%, according to the study published in<\/a> the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.<\/p>\n

Divers visited every two weeks to track color changes and take tissue biopsies at Newfound Harbor in the Florida Keys, to monitor the algae living inside the coral.<\/p>\n

Neely explained that corals have a \u201csymbiotic\u201d relationship with the algae: the coral provides the algae with a home and the algae provides the coral with most of its nutritional needs.<\/p>\n

She said algae also lend corals their color, so when corals turn white under heat stress, scientists know that the relationship has broken down and the coral is starving.<\/p>\n

Although the heat stress measured at Newfound Harbor that summer was the second-highest on record, the corals shaded by fabric lost less color than expected.<\/p>\n

\"\"Underwater Coral umbrella by Nova Southeastern University in Florida \/ Journal Frontiers in Marine Science (SWNS)<\/p>\n

And the differences were greatest during the most intense periods of thermal stress.<\/p>\n

Not only that, Dr. Neely found another salient benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cShaded corals even recovered some of their color, after the shades were installed.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also saw less bleaching than expected overall, and no dead coral.<\/p>\n

\u201cShades reversed the observed bleaching, but the event wasn\u2019t severe enough to cause mortality on control or shaded corals.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we know that even bleaching that doesn\u2019t cause mortality can impact corals\u2019 future disease susceptibility and reproductive capacity.<\/p>\n

The research team found no differences in density of algae occupation or algae species between the control and shaded groups. They believe that if they\u2019d been installed earlier in the heating event, the shades might have been more effective.<\/p>\n

The study found a \u201csignificant\u201d positive impact, except for the method\u2019s limitation of scaling it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found it was effective on two highly-susceptible coral species, so it is likely to be useful for most others,\u201d she concluded\u2014but additional studies are needed to answer more questions.<\/p>\n

SHARE THE PROMISE OF POSSIBILITIES With Coral Lovers On Social Media\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Installing underwater coral umbrellas by Nova Southeastern University in Florida \/ Journal Frontiers in Marine Science Underwater umbrellas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[25981,1687,55960,2808,20194,9458,1728,79,7245],"class_list":["post-871003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-breakthroughs","tag-climate","tag-coral","tag-florida","tag-marine-life","tag-oceans","tag-research","tag-science","tag-success"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}