Corals everywhere on the planet live in harmony with microscopic organisms.
Corals everywhere on the planet live in harmony with microscopic organisms. Many corals get their vivid colors from microscopic algae that live inside the corals’ tissue and provide the corals with food. Even in the water surrounding coral reefs, there is a microscopic soup of bacteria, archaea, and other types of microbes that respond to changes in the habitat and can indicate whether the coral reef is healthy.
In a new paper published in Cell Reports Sustainability, authors Amy Apprill, associate scientist in Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and Jennifer L. Salerno, marine biologist and associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University, detail just how valuable these surrounding microbial communities are for coral reef monitoring and conservation. They describe how sampling and analyzing reef water for certain microbes can be useful, not just to microbiologists and reef scientists, but to others directly tasked with managing and conserving reef ecosystems, like marine park managers, conservation non-profits, restoration teams, and policy makers.
Read More: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
A low-cost groundwater pump is deployed above the reef, and then water is pumped to the surface for collection in bottles. The water will be used to examine reef water-associated microorganisms and evaluate the health of the reef environment. (Photo Credit: Paul Caiger, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
