“Transplanting healthy reef ecosystems to damaged reefs can improve coral health” 2Jan2025

So reads the title for an article by by Bar-Ilan University in phys.org, Nov 26, 2024. It  offers some hopeful news going forward at the beginning of 2025 for Barbados  where there are both healthy and degraded reefs and a lot of practical experience involving both volunteers and researchers with growing and transplanting corals.

The article continues …”The study, just published in the journal Nature Communications, was led by Dr. Natalie Levy and Prof. Oren Levy from Bar-Ilan University’s Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. Ezri Tarazi of the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, and Prof. David Bourne of James Cook University and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

The study introduces a method known as “a coral reef ecosystem transplant” (aCRET), where researchers transferred biomimetic terracotta tiles embedded with a diverse community of organisms—including invertebrates and beneficial microorganisms—from a healthy reef to a nearby damaged reef.” Read More on phys.org

Another related good news story: Lab-grown corals resisted bleaching during Caribbean’s worst marine heat wave by Caitlin Cooper for Mongabay, Sep 19, 2024

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