Long presumed dead, a thriving coral reef is discovered in West Africa

216

sspeckx about 5 hours ago 33 commentsRead Article on e360.yale.edu

DE version is available. Content is displayed in original English for accuracy.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles...

⚡ Community Insights

Discussion Sentiment

62% Positive

Analyzed from 943 words in the discussion.

Discussion (33 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

bix6•about 2 hours ago

For the coral lovers. There are multiple companies working on reef preservation. They are woefully under resourced. If you can help, please do.

xandrius•27 minutes ago

You should give some names if you personally know them.

Aboutplants•about 1 hour ago

I’ve always been curious as to the level of success these programs achieve compared to just letting nature respond on its own. There are many cases where “dead” areas come back to life with abundance and give me pause as to whether we should for the most part just get out of natures way.

bix6•about 1 hour ago

Here’s one successful example that only worked because of human intervention: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240308123248.h...

They can only survive short duration events. At some point the temp and time is too much and they die. The only way they come back is reintroduction.

We’ve lost over 50% of the reefs and are expected to lose 90% by 2050.

There are many amazing solutions. Some use corals more resistant to heat stress. Australia has seen some promising results with seed boxes. I know of a few other amazing solutions currently in the lab.

We have already gotten in natures way. So now we need to help nature with our technology.

phkahler•40 minutes ago

I recall reading that the corals can reproduce both sexually and by cloning, with most in nature using cloning. The researchers brought them back to a lab and bred a bunch of them and found a lot of offspring could thrive in the warmer more acidic water, so they wanted to reintroduce them to a reef (or maybe they had). Been a while but it was interesting. Not sure what it takes to shift away from cloning in nature, but waiting for most the reef to die off seems backwards ;-)

bix6•26 minutes ago

One major issue though is diversity. Many coral gardeners use fragments to clone one type over and over.

SparkyMcUnicorn•about 3 hours ago

This source appears to have more images and info: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles...

dang•about 1 hour ago

We'll put that link in the toptext as well. Thanks!

F7F7F7•about 4 hours ago

The biodiversity in West Africa in general is completely underrated. I mean, Darwin solidified his trajectory in life a few short days after the Beagle anchored off of Cape Verde (a place he initially detested then fell in love with).

I'm hoping that Cape Verde's World Cup success story translates to more eye balls on stories like this (with the mere mention of the country landing it in search results). Which means more attention, money and research to West Africa's relatively fragile but diverse ecosystem.

novia•about 4 hours ago

> Zinzindohoué agrees: “We don’t need to wait for others to come to our country to show us what is under our sea. We are the ones who must take responsibility.

wildfireday2•about 2 hours ago

Yet, they didn’t.

And for those commenting about risk from tourism, this is mesophotic coral at 175 feet. It’s out of range of recreational scuba much less shallow-reef snorkelers. Only technical divers can reach this reef. That’s why it hadn’t even been explored for all this time.

paulhebert•16 minutes ago

Isn’t this whole article about how they’re doing so right now?

ck2•about 3 hours ago

vaguely related I read a fascinating story the other day about basically garbage dumping of leftover oyster/clam shells being used to re-seed a marine ecosystem off the Florida Keys

* https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/florida-dumped-h...

soperj•about 3 hours ago

they were doing that in New York as well if I'm not mistaken

Jtsummers•about 3 hours ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion_Oyster_Project - Different effort, this one is about putting out living oysters, not just shells as GP was talking about.

And to be clear, in GP's link, living oysters do show up, but they weren't put there deliberately (the shells and every other development provided the larvae with places to grow and establish themselves). The NY project started with oyster larvae placed on discarded shells to deliberately create the new environment with an oyster population.

yieldcrv•about 3 hours ago

reading all those easily solved frictions they encountered was sad

functionmouse•about 3 hours ago

Dear reader, if you find something beautiful, shut up about it.

mips_avatar•about 2 hours ago

Very few people travel to visit the Amazon especially in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. In the absence of tourist money these amazing ecosystems are being turned into agriculture and logged. In the protected areas supported by eco tourism the sound of the insects is deafening. But a few miles away in the banana plantations the area is completely silent. Even on “organic” banana plantations every insect is killed.

lemonberry•about 3 hours ago

I walk an old logging trail near my house. 5 years or so ago I was walking and came across a lady slipper. Then another and another. I stopped counting at around 100. I've never seen so many in one place. It was incredible. I stopped taking people there when they've bloomed to help preserve them. It's a free and public place, but on a lightly travelled road so it doesn't actually get much traffic. Anyone that takes that walk at the right time of year will see them, but I've no interest in helping the inevitable happen if word gets out.

akk0•about 3 hours ago

Not having heard of this plant before, I was rather confused why people would leave so much footwear on this trail.

lemonberry•about 2 hours ago

Apologies, I assumed common knowledge when I shouldn't have. It's a lovely orchid that resembles a slipper.

Here's a link from the USDA Forest Service:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/cyprip...

soperj•about 3 hours ago

haha yes, 100% thought this was about someone dumping used shoes in a pristine area before your comment.

slibhb•about 3 hours ago

Yeah, only publish stories about coral bleaching, animals going extinct, and forest fires. Censor any good news at all costs!

dlcarrier•about 2 hours ago

You don't even need to actively censor it; it's human nature to not only solely pay attention to bad news, but also to amplify it. It's generally true for all mammals, but they scale of things we're conscious of is orders of magnitude larger than any other mammal species.

aboardRat4•about 2 hours ago

Forest fires are natural.

Coral bleaching seems too actually be a sign of prosperity, not suffering.

stasomatic•9 minutes ago

Let’s tariff forests 50% or else!

bix6•about 2 hours ago

Glyphosate has made forest fires worse.

Bleaching happens when the symbiosis breaks down due to elevated temps. That is due to suffering and causes suffering.

peter_stokes•about 2 hours ago

Not in developing countries. Especially not when in the commons (e.g. territorial waters). Awareness + western tourism is often the only way these things get protected.

Eueudhsbsj32•about 3 hours ago

I think it depends. In developing countries, ecotourism even when poorly managed is better for conservation than uncontrolled fishing/farming.

asdfman123•about 2 hours ago

Hey there Mr. Jambo

ars•about 3 hours ago

What's the point in it existing then? Just for a couple of the chosen few?

I'm aware that lots of people can be destructive, but there's a balance.

1970-01-01•about 1 hour ago

Shut up about the exact location, but do tell us about it. Just make it hard enough so the ignorant tourism industry cannot find it.

nothinggoesaway•about 2 hours ago

Chemical sunscreen famously kills coral.

Some dermatologists have noted that sunscreen is little used in Africa. [1]

I’m not saying that is the only explanation for the reef’s preservation, but it’s likely a significant contributing factor.

[1] https://theconversation.com/sunscreen-wouldnt-have-saved-bob...

wildfireday2•about 2 hours ago

That and being 175 feet below the surface. You’re not getting “sunscreen” on mesophotic coral.