How scientists are hoping to save our coral reefs - The Climate Question podcast, BBC World Service

Corals protect humans and sustain 25% of all marine life. But reefs are under threat from climate change. And mass bleaching events mean that some scientists estimate they could disappear by 2100.
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Can we save the world's coral? To investigate, Graihagh Jackson is joined by BBC CrowdScience presenter Caroline Steel. Caroline goes to Puerto Rico to see how self-duplicating, carnivorous coral could be the solution. We also speak to the scientist who helped discover what was causing coral bleaching in the first place, back when climate change was commonly denied.
00:00 Visiting London SEA LIFE Aquarium
02:43 Corals are animals, not plants
03:36 How climate change is affecting coral
12:09 Protecting corals
14:36 Growing corals in captivity
16:16 Coral eat coral
21:30 Does growing corals in captivity really work?
More from The Climate Question in our playlist 👉🏽 • The Climate Question
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[@BBCWorldService]

Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 bbc.in/3VyyriM

[@aslampervaiz4073]

Thank you for the wonderful message and video! God bless the entire team and their families Amen 🙏

[@grahamelvis6473]

So why, in the sixties, when I was at school did we hear about massive bleaching events? And, by the way, the scientific consensus was that we were entering a new ice age.

[@OldScientist]

As regards ocean acidification, it is estimated that the ocean’s global mean surface pH may have declined (i.e., become less alkaline and thus more “acidic”) by -0.07 to -0.08 in the last 200 years - from pH8.12 during pre-industrial times to 8.04 to 8.05 today (Wei et al, 2015). N.B. The decline in pH occurred before 1930.
However, and very importantly when you look the data after CO2 emissions began rising precipitously in the 1930s, the oceans have become less “acidic”!!!
By way of comparison, from one season to the next, or over the course of less than 6 months, pH levels naturally change by ±0.15 pH units, or twice the overall rate of the last 200 years. On a per-decade scale, the changes are even more pronounced. Oceanic pH values naturally fluctuate up and down by up to 0.6 U within a span of a decade, with an overall range between 7.66 and 8.40. This decadal rate of pH change is larger than the overall 200-year span (0.07-0.08) by a factor of 8. Indeed the daily noted maximum pH range of 0.7 (Santos et al. 2011) is far greater than the overall change predicted between now and the end of the century.

[@volkerengels5298]

very very very old. :))

[@OldScientist]

@@volkerengels5298
🥱

[@gordonaliasme1104]

Let coral live !

[@salom-rp1cz]

Good 🎉🎉

[@OldScientist]

The Great Barrier Reef's coral cover reached the greatest extent ever recorded in 2022, 2023 and 2024 (AIMS) despite reports of supposed repeated bleaching. If you look at the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) data, the WIO (West Indian Ocean) shows 26% hard coral cover in 1985 upto 30% in 2020. South Asia reefs shows a decline around 2000 to below 25% then a regrowth to around 40% (2010) and a decline to 25% (2020). The Red Sea shows no change at around 25% (1995-2020). So the pattern in these three areas show no relationship to each other or to a changing climate. The Caribbean region reefs have a cover of around 0.15 ± 0.02. There is no evidence of a major reduction in coral cover in the Caribbean over the last two decades.
GCRMN data for the most important coral bioregion, the East Asia Seas, with 30% of the world’s coral reefs, and containing the most diverse coral of the ‘Coral Triangle’, show no statistically significant net coral loss since records began. The East Asia region has the biggest human population living in close proximity to reefs, and is located in the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool - the hottest major water mass on earth.
Life is most diverse in the warmest parts of the world’s oceans. This has been shown across 13 major taxonomic groups from zooplankton to marine mammals. Warmer water = more biodiversity. This is a scare story about things you cannot see.

[@topherjb1]

Yes, it is important to get information from different sources, not just those who profit from telling us that everything is going wrong. Thank you for your input @OldScientist

[@marianasalles242]

Stop mass tourism and over fishing

[@caosontong8913]

18:38 hakai =))))))))

[@user-eu4zy6rm3l]

I think we should report this to the BBC's own "fake news" channel.

[@salom-rp1cz]

The first one watch it🎉

[@fufutilgner2196]

I do not understand the effort and resources put into this. As sea levels are rising most Corals will die anyways over the next decades.

[@radman1136]

Well ... if coral reefs make it to 2100 they're on schedule to outlast the human species by half a century at least.

[@JoshTabor-zu3js]

I’ll save you the time the answer is no we as a species cannot, we can barely stop from totally obliterating ourselves the coral are proper fucked

[@Matt-fs9tg]

Nonsense

[@zg-it]

Lies

[@MikeMentzee]

+

[@asunfeet]

aquariums are unethical though.