Researchers and engineers from institutions like MIT and Lancaster University are working on innovative solutions to protect coral reefs and marine life. Projects include the development of artificial reefs that can absorb wave energy, mimic natural reef functions, and provide habitats for marine species. Efforts are also underway to identify heat-resistant corals to help reefs survive in a warming ocean. The Great Barrier Reef faces varying impacts from coral bleaching events, with the need for continued conservation efforts highlighted.
This was written this past NH summer but it’s a good quick read, now that mass coral bleaching is underway in the GBR https://t.co/FtlRpuT4R3
Is the Great Barrier Reef reviving – or dying? "Yes, the Reef has rebounded beyond our expectations.....If we get mass bleaching (in 2024) like 2016 – or even worse – it could undo all the recent recovery." https://t.co/snf2IhUyZu
In @PNASNexus, researchers from the MIT Center for Bits + Atoms, @MITSeaGrant, @MITMechE, @ENSTAParis, @Westlake_Uni, and Scinetics, Inc. demonstrate a design for artificial reefs that could provide marine habitats and buffer waves to protect coastlines. https://t.co/S73outw4fS
Work wraps up on giant reefs to protect threatened shoreline in western Prince Edward Island. #PEI https://t.co/eZKRP297nJ
#InFocus 🔎 Researchers are hunting for heat-resistant corals that could help reefs survive a warming ocean. @spalumbi's lab at Stanford is testing coral samples with a new technique to find resilient types🪸that can then be grown & transplanted. https://t.co/Fu9IsDIftS https://t.co/V8r3T9EHak
Artificial reef designed by MIT engineers could protect marine life, reduce storm damage. https://t.co/f5iUCcm1lL https://t.co/DLhjqpVcJX
Every coral you can see here belongs to the genus Acropora, which are quick to recolonise a disturbed reef. Unfortunately, they are also heat-sensitive, bleaching and dying with even moderate levels of heat exposure. Despite the rhetoric, the Reef is not infinitely “resilient”. https://t.co/hcBhX2pNp1
Each of the 8 mass coral bleaching & mortality events on the #GreatBarrierReef has had a different geographic footprint, depending on where the water was hottest for longest. This year, the most severe impacts are both north & south, with less heat stress in the central region. https://t.co/WD28u9D53t
.@MIT engineers have developed artificial #reefs that can absorb 95% of wave energy. This may help shield coastlines and can offer sustainable solutions to protect against #ClimateChange impacts, while also protecting marine life. @PNASNexus https://t.co/EallaNm2wG
MIT Sea Grant, the Center for Bits and Atoms + a team of engineers are designing artificial reefs to mimic wave-buffering effects of natural reefs and provide habitats for marine life. Details reported today in @PNASNexus + MIT News: https://t.co/ioCAKGL4Zt @medialab @MITMechE
Dr. Timothy Lamont and his team at Lancaster University observed amazing healing after planting sand-coated steel frames known as reef stars on a destroyed reef off the coast of Indonesia. https://t.co/ILueytytR0