Coral reefs are critical for fisheries, tourism, protecting against coastal erosion — and they help develop life-saving treatments for leukemia. As warm water temperatures and toxic algae take their toll on the reefs, researchers in Puerto Rico are diving in and using young diadema sea urchins to save the vital resource.
There hasn’t been a worse time to be a coral in recent history. Record-breaking sea surface temperatures have persisted globally since March 2023. In that time, more than three-quarters of the world’s reefs have experienced heat stress intense enough to bleach corals, according to Derek Manzello, an ecologist who coordinates the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch Program.
When corals die or become bleached, ecosystems can be overrun by such algae. “If the ground is already covered by algae, the coral larvae will not settle there,” said Juan Torres-Pérez, a coral expert and a NASA research scientist, who grew up and studied in Puerto Rico. In the 1980s, long-spined sea urchins died off across Puerto Rican reefs. Now, they struggle to survive past the early stages of life in La Parguera.
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