MIAMI – Scientists from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science brought in basket after basket of corals ashore on Miami’s Virginia Key Tuesday, as extreme water temperatures threaten South Florida’s reefs.
Water temperatures off the South Florida coast have soared to more than 90 degrees over the past three weeks — coral can only survive long-term in temperatures up to 84 degrees. Scientists say coral reefs in the Florida Keys, for instance, are already undergoing a process called bleaching.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s very depressing to be in this situation,” Diego Lirman, a UM associate professor, said.
In higher temperatures, the animals shed the algae that allows them to photosynthesize and feed; they turn white and will eventually starve.
“These corals are so stressed, they’re throwing out their batteries. And without that, they’re weakened,” Cam McMath, the Rosenstiel School’s facilities manager said.
The good news, researchers said, is that the corals brought ashore Tuesday still had color, leading them to believe they have acted in time.
By moving the coral ashore, the researchers hope to add the “refugee” corals to a genetic bank so that reefs can be repopulated when the temperatures subside.
“The idea is to save as many corals from as many unique genotypes as possible, keeping them on land, below the thermal threshold level,” Lirman said.
However, the specter of yearly bleaching events worries Lirman and other scientists.
“If we have yearly bleaching events, bleaching anomalies, then we are really in for a bleak future,” Lirman said.
In that case, he said, the corals wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild.
Some of the corals rescued Tuesday had been grown by the UM team in a nursery in efforts to repopulate the reef. Scientists said they’re trying to save that work.