Scientist Accidentally Shatters Coral In The Lab, But His Mistake Can Save The World’s Oceans
Everyone’s talking about climate change because, of late, it has become an impending issue that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. After all, not only coral and marine life but also humans depend on the ocean’s healthy ecosystem and this is why the reef is so important because it acts as an incubator of the ocean’s ecosystem. Although coral reefs make up less than 1% of the ocean they provide food and shelter to nearly 25% of all marine life that ultimately feeds billions of people around the world. Coming to point, the largest living the reef is Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
However, not everything is fine and dandy when it comes to the Great Barrier Reef because, as of 2017, two-thirds of its structure was declared dead. When the ocean’s water temperature rises to hostile levels due to global warming and climate change, it is extremely dangerous and it eventually kills the reef in the process, thereby damaging the ocean’s ecosystem. Seeing the significance of the reefs for the survival of marine life and humans, it is therefore important that they are preserved and allowed to mature. Also, it takes 25 to 75 years for a the to fully regain its former size. Can you then imagine what Dr. David Vaughan must have felt when he accidentally damaged a coral while he was cleaning a tank in his lab?
In 2006 at the Mote Laboratory, Dr. Vaughan was busy clearing coral from a tank when he accidentally smashed one into several pieces. Naturally, the expert was upset because, knowing the time it takes for a coral to regrow and mature, precious time would be lost. However, what he didn’t know is that he had just discovered a brilliantly quick way to save the ocean’s ecosystem. Dr. Vaughan was expecting the coral fragments to take years to mature, after all, the original coral took three years to grow. But in less than three weeks, the tiny coral fragments grew to their initial size! How did this happen?
Apparently in the 1960s experts had discovered that fragmenting coral could actually encourage its rapid growth. To test this theory, Dr. Vaughan tried fragmenting other types of coral reefs in the Florida Keys and, to his delight, they all regrew to their original size in just three weeks. In order to make the coral more climate-friendly, Dr. Vaughan is now prepping them to survive in more acidic and warm waters. Dr. Vaughan believes that this new discovery will restore and revive coral reefs and help them thrive under climate change. This new discovery may buy scientists some time to save the ocean’s ecosystem or be the solution that scientists need to save the ocean’s dying ecosystem.
