Coral reefs

This is What a Mass Die-off of Earth’s Coral Reefs Looks Like

Earlier this week, we learned that Earth’s coral reefs are in the midst of a massive dieoff, triggered by abnormally hot temperatures in ocean basins worldwide. It’s hardly the first time in recent history that we’ve witnessed a widespread coral bleaching event, and it won’t be the last. In several decades, coral reefs could literally…

Climate Change Maddie Stone

Saving Coral Reefs With… Electrified Rocks?

Biorocks might be the prettiest forms of environmental remediation you’ll ever see. Part art, part science, these artificial structures are slowly helping coral recover from environmental devastation. The BBC recently profiled Gili Trawangan, a small island in Indonesia perhaps best known for these biorocks. The biorocks begin as naked metal sculptures of rebar and wire…

Tech News Sarah Zhang

The Healthiest Corals Are Also the Fattest

The survival of many ocean species depends on the survival of coral reefs. But with many species of coral threatened by climate change, some scientists believe we should focus our preservation efforts on those most able to adapt—the fattest ones. Corals are essentially colorless; the brilliant greens, yellows and browns that we associate with them…

io9 Mark Strauss

This Worm Can Make Itself Virtually Invisible

This parasitic flatworm is very difficult to detect, owing to a unique camouflage mechanism that’s reminiscent of what the alien does to its prey in The Thing. According to a new study published by researchers at the University of Southampton, the worm camouflages itself with the undigested remains of its prey. Because its prey are…

io9 Mark Strauss

The mysterious case of the dead shark and the disappearing coral reef

You’ve probably heard that killing apex predators is bad for ecosystems. But how does that really work? Now we know. The story begins with a lot of dead sharks. For years, scientists have been trying to establish how sharks — being top predators — affect animals at the bottom of the food chain, such as…

io9 Joseph Bennington-Castro

Some coral reefs could survive environmental changes for a very unexpected reason

We’re losing the coral reefs. There’s no two ways about it — these massive enclaves of marine life are on the decline. But the secret to saving the coral could be less diversity, not more. We generally think of diverse populations as being more flexible and resistant to harm, able to respond in a robust…

io9 Tim Barribeau

To Help Preserve the Great Barrier Reef, These Researchers Are Collecting Its Sperm Cells

The Great Barrier Reef is 1,800 miles long and home to a quarter of the world’s ocean species. So it’s no wonder that marine biologists, fearing its pollution-driven demise, started freezing corals so they can preserve them for later. That’s right. They’re freezing coral sperm and embryonic cells and storing them in a frozen repository.…

Tech News Max Behrman

Coral Reefs Have Creepy, Alien-Like Superpowers

Sure, coral reefs are pretty, but they also have creepy almost alien-like superpowers: An entire reef can be regrown from a tiny chunk of coral. Dr. Graham Forrester of the University of Rhode Island simplified what happens when the underwater structures regrow themselves: To use a gardening analogy, the sourced coral is like an orchard…

Tech News Rosa Golijan

Check out the coral reef paradise undisturbed by humanity

Millennium Atoll, the easternmost island of the Pacific nation Kiribati, is a rare pristine example of the coral reef ecosystem. Isolated from human disruption for centuries, the atoll is full of life as it would be without humans. A team of ten researchers from a variety of American institutions conducted the first scientific survey of…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The secret superpower of delicate coral reefs

Coral reefs are a vital part of marine ecosystems, but they can be damaged by everything from storms and careless divers to massive natural disasters. But they also have a superpower: An entire reef can grow from one coral chunk. Coral reefs are some of the most important and most fragile kinds of marine habitats,…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The Weird Surfaces Of Undersea Life, In Crochet And Plastic Trash

Weirdest science art we’ve seen lately: artists working with the Institute for Figuring have recreated the hyperbolic surfaces of undersea reefs using the plastic garbage that is helping to kill them — plus a lot of crocheting as well. Artworks include “The Ladies’ Silurian Atoll” and “Cambrian Explosion Reef.”

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

This is What a Mass Die-off of Earth’s Coral Reefs Looks Like

Saving Coral Reefs With… Electrified Rocks?

The Healthiest Corals Are Also the Fattest

This Worm Can Make Itself Virtually Invisible

The mysterious case of the dead shark and the disappearing coral reef

Some coral reefs could survive environmental changes for a very unexpected reason

To Help Preserve the Great Barrier Reef, These Researchers Are Collecting Its Sperm Cells

Coral Reefs Have Creepy, Alien-Like Superpowers

Check out the coral reef paradise undisturbed by humanity

The secret superpower of delicate coral reefs

The Weird Surfaces Of Undersea Life, In Crochet And Plastic Trash

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