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Your faithful writer,
Dr. Daniel Smith

Bad News from Down Under: 

Australian authorities announced this morning that the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is experiencing another mass bleaching event.

Aerial surveys found that up to two-thirds of the massive coral reef showed bleaching on shallow water corals.

Officials said that the bleaching was caused by rising sea temperatures in what’s been Australia’s third-hottest summer on record.

The GBR isn’t just the world’s largest coral reef; it’s also one of our planet’s most important and unique ecosystems:

• The GBR stretches across much of Australia’s eastern coast

• It covers 133,000 square miles and can be seen from space

• It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site

• The coolest part: It’s the largest structure made by living organisms on Earth

This isn't the first time that the GBR has suffered a mass bleaching event. It's actually the fifth time in eight years that a bleaching event has been recorded there.

The disturbing thing: just two mass bleaching events were recorded prior to 2016.

Several major bleaching events occurred worldwide over the last couple decades, and we could be at the cusp of a new one.

Let’s dive in to:

• the important problem of coral bleaching 💀

• how it threatens ocean biodiversity 🐠

• what people are doing to protect & rejuvenate coral reefs 🪸

What is Coral Bleaching?

Coral bleaching is the process by which corals expel the algae that live inside them. This process occurs when corals experience stress, with rising ocean temperatures being seen as a primary trigger for bleaching.

The expulsion of the algae, which create the vibrant array of colors that characterize healthy coral reefs, does far more than change the color of the coral.

The bone white color of bleached reefs represents the death of the highly complex and symbiotic algae-coral relationship and the ecosystem that it supports.

You might be surprised to learn that coral are actually living creatures. If they are bleached and they don’t allow algae to return due to persistently high temperatures, the coral will eventually die. This handy quote explains what, exactly, coral are:

If corals die, the rich beauty and biodiversity of the coral reef dies with it. Although the threat of coral bleaching is dire, it is encouraging to know that some groups are working to address the problem — both by preventing and reversing coral bleaching.

What’s being done to stop coral bleaching?

One of the ways that people are working to prevent further coral reef bleaching is by improving the resilience of individual reefs.

Ocean temperature changes are a global problem that are inextricably tied up with climate change, but local groups can take efforts to minimize things like pollution, coastal development, or over-fishing that can threaten the reefs near them.

Money talks: Last year, more than 40 countries committed to spend $12B to protect coral reefs as part of the Global Fund for Coral Reefs.

While bleaching and the possible restoration of bleached coral reefs is a natural process that humans can’t shape, there have been scientific efforts to intervene in that process.

I found an interesting study that proposed the solution of “reef thermal management” — which essentially referred to using air conditioning and covering reefs to protect them from the sun.

Check out this graphic from the study that shows a solar-powered AC array that shades the coral reef:

Conclusion: It’s unclear whether humans will be able to do much to protect coral reefs from mass bleaching events, but research like this can provide some hope for those of us who want these beautiful examples of nature’s complexity and interconnectedness to survive the 21st century.

ART OF THE DAY

Thank you for reading. Please reply to this email if you have any thoughts or feedback.

Yours,
Da