WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.260 - Alright, welcome everybody! 00:00:02.260 --> 00:00:06.680 We are very pleased that you are joining us today for our 00:00:06.680 --> 00:00:09.920 national marine sanctuaries webinar series. 00:00:11.200 --> 00:00:14.600 This is a series for distance learning that is hosted by the 00:00:14.600 --> 00:00:17.960 NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. 00:00:18.300 --> 00:00:23.080 And we find that it's a great way for us to connect with formal and informal educators, 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:28.020 students, and even families and other interested people. 00:00:28.020 --> 00:00:32.740 And it provides you an educational and scientific experience 00:00:32.740 --> 00:00:36.860 using some of our experts within NOAA and our partners. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:42.500 And we often provide resources and training to help support ocean and climate literacy. 00:00:43.220 --> 00:00:44.720 So, I wanted to let everybody know 00:00:44.720 --> 00:00:50.720 that today during the presentation all attendees will be in listen-only mode. 00:00:51.060 --> 00:00:55.720 We have over 600 registrants for today's webinar, which is very exciting. 00:00:55.720 --> 00:01:00.000 And we have representatives from many, many countries across the globe. 00:01:00.740 --> 00:01:05.680 As an attendee, if you have any questions or any technical difficulties, 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:11.160 you can enter them into the question box in the GoToWebinar control panel. 00:01:11.160 --> 00:01:14.140 So, whether it's a question or a technical issue, 00:01:14.140 --> 00:01:16.620 goes into that same spot – the question box. 00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:20.780 We will have a Q&A at the end of today's webinar, 00:01:20.780 --> 00:01:23.800 and there'll be an opportunity to either type in your question 00:01:23.800 --> 00:01:30.840 or to use the raise hand feature in the control panel to let us know you'd like to verbally ask your question. 00:01:31.660 --> 00:01:36.440 So, I wanted to let you know that we're recording today's session, as we always do. 00:01:36.440 --> 00:01:40.080 We will share the recording with all registered participants. 00:01:40.080 --> 00:01:47.140 We have an archive page where all of our great National Marine Sanctuary webinar presentations are archived. 00:01:47.140 --> 00:01:48.700 That will come to you over email. 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:51.800 It'll also be listed at the end of our presentation. 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:59.080 So with that, I wanted to give a brief introduction to the National Marine Sanctuary system. 00:01:59.080 --> 00:02:01.280 So these are your underwater parks. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:06.260 These are special ocean areas that are set aside by Congress, 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:13.120 and each of those blue dots on this map represent one of these national marine sanctuaries. 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:17.980 We manage a network of 15 marine protected areas, 00:02:17.980 --> 00:02:20.700 including two marine national monuments. 00:02:20.700 --> 00:02:26.480 And this is over 600,000 square miles of ocean and Great Lakes. 00:02:26.820 --> 00:02:29.180 And it's important to note that national marine sanctuaries and marine national monuments 00:02:29.180 --> 00:02:34.560 help protect the ocean and Great Lakes. 00:02:35.380 --> 00:02:39.920 And these areas are set aside by Congress for a wide variety of reasons. 00:02:40.140 --> 00:02:46.820 It could be that there's a very strong ecological or intrinsic value to these marine protected areas. 00:02:46.820 --> 00:02:53.500 It could be the maritime archaeology or cultural resources for other purposes as well. 00:02:53.940 --> 00:02:57.140 And we like to call these places our living classrooms. 00:02:57.140 --> 00:03:00.900 This is where people like yourselves, if you're in the United States, 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:05.600 can learn, touch, feel, experience these underwater parks. 00:03:06.200 --> 00:03:10.420 And so with that, I'd like to introduce myself and my co-host. 00:03:10.420 --> 00:03:12.260 I am Claire Fackler. 00:03:12.260 --> 00:03:18.040 I am the National Education Liaison with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. 00:03:18.040 --> 00:03:20.940 My co-host today is Jacqueline Laverdure. 00:03:20.940 --> 00:03:26.760 She's the education coordinator at our Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:31.600 I'd like to now introduce you to our special presenter today. 00:03:31.600 --> 00:03:33.680 We have Dr. Katie Lohr. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:39.760 She actually has now a new title since we created this webinar event together. 00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:45.220 She is the science and heritage coordinator at our NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries 00:03:45.220 --> 00:03:47.460 in Silver Spring Maryland, our headquarters. 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:54.520 She previously worked in that same office as a 2019 Knauss marine policy fellow. 00:03:54.520 --> 00:04:01.020 She earned her Ph.D. in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences at the University of Florida in 2018, 00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:06.560 and her studies focused on strategies for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:10.520 of Acroporid coral restoration, which you're gonna learn about today. 00:04:10.980 --> 00:04:12.520 Prior to completing her Ph.D., 00:04:12.520 --> 00:04:17.960 Katie spent several years working on coral reef conservation and restoration projects 00:04:17.960 --> 00:04:23.060 at the Central Caribbean Marine Institute in Little Cayman, Cayman Islands. 00:04:23.060 --> 00:04:27.980 She previously earned a master's in marine biology and of fisheries at the University of Miami, 00:04:27.980 --> 00:04:31.880 and a bachelor's in biology from the University of Michigan. 00:04:31.880 --> 00:04:35.880 So with that, we're gonna go ahead and change her to our presenter 00:04:36.580 --> 00:04:40.980 and let her go ahead and give her presentation. 00:04:42.320 --> 00:04:43.340 - Alright. 00:04:43.340 --> 00:04:45.500 Well thank you so much, Claire, for the introduction, 00:04:45.500 --> 00:04:48.300 and thanks to everyone online for being here today. 00:04:48.300 --> 00:04:49.700 I really appreciate it. 00:04:50.180 --> 00:04:54.960 And I'm really excited to talk to everyone today about a topic I'm really passionate about, 00:04:54.960 --> 00:04:57.160 which is coral reef restoration. 00:04:57.760 --> 00:05:03.160 And I'm gonna start us off with a little bit of background about coral reef ecosystems. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:06.340 So, coral reefs. 00:05:06.340 --> 00:05:10.260 One of the most important things they do is they provide habitat. 00:05:10.460 --> 00:05:14.820 So you can see in this photo, we have two pretty large Elkhorn coral colonies, 00:05:14.820 --> 00:05:19.960 and they're creating this space and shelter for a variety of fish species. 00:05:20.200 --> 00:05:24.900 And that includes commercially important fish species, like lobsters and snappers. 00:05:24.900 --> 00:05:28.600 And even though coral reefs only occupy a really small area, 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:31.620 so about 0.1% of our oceans, 00:05:31.620 --> 00:05:39.040 they actually are home to about 25% of the known marine species in the world, 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:41.980 so they're really important biodiversity hotspots. 00:05:42.760 --> 00:05:45.620 Coral reefs also have direct benefits to humans, 00:05:45.620 --> 00:05:49.460 and one of the most important ones is shoreline protection. 00:05:49.460 --> 00:05:51.620 If we take a look at this diagram, 00:05:51.620 --> 00:05:53.360 up top we have a healthy coral reef. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:56.100 You can see it's got a lot of different species on it, 00:05:56.100 --> 00:05:58.300 and it has this really big structure. 00:05:58.300 --> 00:06:00.560 And as the waves pass over that structure, 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:04.440 the coral reef actually reduces that wave energy, 00:06:04.440 --> 00:06:09.520 so it results in smaller and less strong waves hitting the coastline. 00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:12.100 If we look at the bottom panel, 00:06:12.100 --> 00:06:13.760 you see a degraded coral reef. 00:06:13.760 --> 00:06:15.780 So it doesn't have as much complexity. 00:06:15.780 --> 00:06:17.640 It doesn't have as much structure, 00:06:17.640 --> 00:06:20.760 and that results in bigger stronger waves hitting the coastline. 00:06:20.960 --> 00:06:26.160 And that can result in problems like erosion, more storm surge, and flooding. 00:06:26.300 --> 00:06:31.400 So these coral reefs provide really natural protective barriers to our coastal communities. 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:35.840 They're also an important source of food and income. 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:38.640 One estimate suggests there's about a billion people that in some way 00:06:38.640 --> 00:06:43.560 rely on coral reefs for one of these two things. 00:06:44.400 --> 00:06:47.100 Coral reefs are also great places for recreation, 00:06:47.100 --> 00:06:51.260 so things like scuba diving, snorkeling, and recreational fishing. 00:06:51.260 --> 00:06:53.800 And that also provides an economic benefit 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:58.360 of about thirty-six billion dollars per year for coral reefs worldwide. 00:06:59.020 --> 00:07:02.820 And last, but not least, and this is something that people don't always talk about, 00:07:02.820 --> 00:07:06.960 but species from coral reefs produce bioactive compounds, 00:07:06.960 --> 00:07:10.780 and some of those have been isolated and actually been used to create medicines. 00:07:10.790 --> 00:07:14.227 So, things like anti-cancer drugs, antiviral drugs, 00:07:14.227 --> 00:07:17.960 and there's a lot more out there that we haven't started to research yet 00:07:17.960 --> 00:07:21.380 so they're really valuable to humans for a lot of reasons. 00:07:22.540 --> 00:07:24.440 And now I'm gonna talk about corals, 00:07:24.440 --> 00:07:26.400 which are the foundation of these coral reefs. 00:07:26.400 --> 00:07:28.300 But before we get into it, 00:07:28.300 --> 00:07:31.540 I want you to take a look at this picture of a star coral. 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:34.740 And we have a poll that I'd like you to take a look at. 00:07:34.740 --> 00:07:37.340 I think Jacqueline will introduce that for us. 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:47.060 - Okay, so we just launched the poll, 00:07:47.060 --> 00:07:50.240 and the poll is what are corals? 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:57.360 The choices are plant, animal, mineral, or all of the above. 00:07:58.120 --> 00:07:59.620 - It's a tricky question. 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:04.920 - The question is what are corals. 00:08:08.440 --> 00:08:14.000 So is it a plant, an animal, mineral, or all of the above? 00:08:15.280 --> 00:08:17.380 And we've got some answers coming in. 00:08:18.440 --> 00:08:20.760 You got 57% who have voted. 00:08:22.500 --> 00:08:26.420 Looks like they're torn between animal or all of the above. 00:08:28.340 --> 00:08:30.000 We'll give another moment. 00:08:30.100 --> 00:08:31.600 We have 60% in. 00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:40.420 Five more seconds. 00:08:44.900 --> 00:08:48.180 Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and close the poll. 00:08:53.060 --> 00:08:56.040 And here we go, it looks like 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:03.280 Share that. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:07.100 It looks like we had one percent said a plant, 00:09:10.020 --> 00:09:15.240 51% said animal, and 48% all of the above. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:16.960 - Okay. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:22.240 Alright, good answers and to some extent everyone is right, 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:25.680 but corals themselves are animals, 00:09:25.680 --> 00:09:27.440 So, this is a close-up. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:29.140 If you take a look back at this boulder, 00:09:29.140 --> 00:09:32.720 you'll see these little circles all over the top of the colony. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:36.880 And those are individual coral polyps that make up this coral colony. 00:09:36.880 --> 00:09:38.360 And this is one of the polyps. 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:41.020 You can see it looks sort of like a sea anemone. 00:09:41.020 --> 00:09:45.720 So corals are an animal that are closely related to some things like sea anemones. 00:09:46.860 --> 00:09:50.500 And if you look at this sped-up video, 00:09:50.500 --> 00:09:52.760 you can see that, yes, they're alive. 00:09:52.760 --> 00:09:53.600 They move, 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:58.580 and like other animals they fight with each other, they catch prey from the water column. 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:02.660 And in this video, this was something that was discovered maybe five or six years ago, 00:10:02.660 --> 00:10:05.220 it looks like they're hugging each other, those two polyps, 00:10:05.220 --> 00:10:09.060 but they're actually sharing food, which is a pretty cool discovery. 00:10:09.700 --> 00:10:13.820 But, let's take another look at a different view of a coral polyp. 00:10:13.820 --> 00:10:16.320 So this is the top, this is the part we see, 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.700 and then here's a cross-section of the bottom of the polyp, 00:10:19.700 --> 00:10:22.400 so the part that we don't see when we're looking at the colony. 00:10:22.400 --> 00:10:24.373 And don't worry about the words there, 00:10:24.380 --> 00:10:29.040 but what I want you to pay attention to is that as this coral polyp is growing, 00:10:29.040 --> 00:10:33.400 its depositing a compound called calcium carbonate. 00:10:33.400 --> 00:10:37.920 So, that's the same compound that makes up limestone and chalk. 00:10:37.920 --> 00:10:40.100 And as the coral gets bigger, 00:10:40.100 --> 00:10:43.240 it lays down more and more layers of this calcium carbonate, 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:46.260 and that results in the big structures that we see today. 00:10:46.260 --> 00:10:52.200 So, this coral colony has layers of calcium carbonate underneath it 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:55.840 that have been built up over hundreds or maybe even thousands of years. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:59.540 And only the surface that we're looking at, the surface polyps, 00:10:59.540 --> 00:11:01.260 that's the part that's living, 00:11:01.260 --> 00:11:05.000 So it does have that mineral skeleton that creates the structure. 00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:10.460 And part of what facilitates that is a symbiotic relationship 00:11:10.460 --> 00:11:14.900 between the coral animal and a type of algae that lives inside its tissue, 00:11:14.900 --> 00:11:16.840 so there's your plant element. 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:20.180 So, here you see in that magnified image, 00:11:20.180 --> 00:11:23.260 those are tiny algae known as zooxanthellae. 00:11:23.260 --> 00:11:25.960 So they live inside the coral's tissues, 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:29.240 and they get shelter by living inside the coral's tissue, 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:30.540 so they get a benefit. 00:11:30.540 --> 00:11:34.740 And in turn, through photosynthesis, that zooxanthellae 00:11:34.740 --> 00:11:40.520 can turn sunlight and carbon dioxide from the environment into sugar. 00:11:40.520 --> 00:11:44.960 And that sugar that the algae produce gives the coral up to 90% of its nutrition, 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:47.200 so that's a really important benefit. 00:11:47.340 --> 00:11:49.520 The algae also gives the coral its color, 00:11:49.520 --> 00:11:52.640 so when you think about the vibrant colors you see on a coral reef, 00:11:52.980 --> 00:11:56.240 that's where those colors are coming from, this tiny algae. 00:11:57.640 --> 00:12:03.520 I'm gonna focus specifically on a subset of corals called Acroporid corals. 00:12:03.520 --> 00:12:07.020 And that just means any coral species from the genus Acropora. 00:12:07.020 --> 00:12:10.320 And Acropora is actually the most common genus of coral worldwide. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:12.380 There's about 180 species. 00:12:12.380 --> 00:12:15.860 But, in Florida and the Caribbean, where most of my work has been, 00:12:15.860 --> 00:12:20.000 we got kind of the short end of the stick because we only have two of those species, 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:21.540 and those are the two you see here: 00:12:21.540 --> 00:12:26.860 the Staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, and the Elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata. 00:12:28.040 --> 00:12:30.740 Even though we only have two of those Acroporids, 00:12:30.740 --> 00:12:33.800 they are historically really important on reefs. 00:12:33.800 --> 00:12:35.420 They were spatial dominance, 00:12:35.420 --> 00:12:41.440 so kind of the main species you would expect to see when you'd go diving or snorkeling on a reef. 00:12:42.280 --> 00:12:44.320 And they have a fast growth rate. 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:47.940 So if we think back to that Boulder Star coral we saw earlier, 00:12:47.940 --> 00:12:52.259 corals like that might only grow one centimeter in diameter per year. 00:12:52.260 --> 00:12:54.820 In comparison, these branching corals, 00:12:54.820 --> 00:12:58.840 each one of those branches can grow about 10 to 20 centimeters every year. 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:00.940 So they're really important for building up 00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:04.200 the amount of that calcium carbonate structure on reefs. 00:13:05.640 --> 00:13:07.940 They also have this complex growth form. 00:13:07.940 --> 00:13:15.840 You can see those branching shapes form crevices and add to the roughness on the reef 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:20.680 that helps to slow things like wave energy and also create more habitat. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:26.040 And if you look at this photo from 1975, 00:13:26.040 --> 00:13:30.140 this is Carysfort Reef, a reef in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 00:13:30.140 --> 00:13:33.760 And you can get an idea of what I mean when I say spatial dominance, right. 00:13:33.760 --> 00:13:37.540 There's pretty much nothing but Elkhorn coral as far as you can see. 00:13:37.540 --> 00:13:40.140 And the same was true for Staghorn coral. 00:13:40.140 --> 00:13:43.400 This is an example from Jamaica, also from 1975. 00:13:43.400 --> 00:13:45.440 And even though the photo's in black and white, 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:49.160 you can see pretty much nothing but staghorn coral on this reef. 00:13:49.160 --> 00:13:51.839 And then as the Staghorn coral grows, 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:55.320 it forms these communities called thickets, 00:13:55.320 --> 00:13:59.720 so pretty much you can't tell where one colony ends and the next begins. 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:04.120 And those interlocking branches are really important for forming habitat. 00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:09.100 Unfortunately, if we take a look at the same reefs today, 00:14:09.100 --> 00:14:14.920 you'll see that we've lost about 97% of both of these species throughout their range. 00:14:14.920 --> 00:14:18.420 That's true for both Elkhorn coral and Staghorn coral. 00:14:18.420 --> 00:14:21.300 And the primary driver of the loss of these two species 00:14:21.300 --> 00:14:24.620 in Florida and the Caribbean is a disease. 00:14:24.620 --> 00:14:27.140 Some people called it white band disease, 00:14:27.140 --> 00:14:29.920 but that's the image you see here. 00:14:29.920 --> 00:14:35.960 It started in the early 1980s and really contributed to the decline of both species, 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:37.375 but so did other factors, 00:14:37.380 --> 00:14:43.260 so things like poor water quality, overfishing, and also global climate change. 00:14:44.280 --> 00:14:49.500 So, we talked about how the algae that live inside the coral's tissues gives it its color. 00:14:49.940 --> 00:14:55.580 When waters get too warm, as they have been doing more and more often via climate change, 00:14:55.580 --> 00:15:00.080 the symbiotic relationship between the coral and the algae breaks down. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:04.560 And that results in the algae being ejected from the coral polyp 00:15:04.560 --> 00:15:06.600 in what's known as coral bleaching. 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:08.840 So it gets that name because without the algae, 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:11.200 the corals appear stark white. 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:13.540 And a bleached coral isn't dead, 00:15:13.540 --> 00:15:19.920 so the coral's able to feed on zooplankton from the ocean and be able to survive, 00:15:19.920 --> 00:15:23.900 but it might be compromised in terms of being able to resist disease. 00:15:24.300 --> 00:15:26.880 And they typically don't reproduce as well. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:31.000 And if the elevated temperature is prolonged, 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:33.200 it can lead to widespread mortality. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:39.180 So you may have heard about the massive bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef two years ago. 00:15:39.180 --> 00:15:45.560 Unfortunately, the Great Barrier Reef is right now going through its third mass bleaching event in five years, 00:15:45.560 --> 00:15:48.140 so that happens globally to coral reefs, 00:15:48.140 --> 00:15:52.060 and it's an increasingly, it's increasingly a problem. 00:15:53.660 --> 00:15:57.580 So, in response to the decline of Elkhorn and Staghorn coral, 00:15:57.580 --> 00:16:02.480 but also other species, a process known as coral restoration was developed, 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:07.520 and this is a strategy that we use to generate new coral colonies 00:16:07.520 --> 00:16:12.960 and be able to take them and replace them on degraded reefs where they've been lost. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:15.820 And I'll talk about a couple of the ways that we do that in a moment, 00:16:15.820 --> 00:16:19.532 but I do want to emphasize that this is just one of many tools 00:16:19.540 --> 00:16:24.220 that we have to combat the decline of coral, the decline of corals globally. 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:26.600 So it's not a magic process, 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:31.500 and it's not going to erase the issues we have like climate change, like disease, 00:16:31.500 --> 00:16:38.300 but it does allow us to maintain healthy populations of some of these critically threatened species 00:16:38.760 --> 00:16:42.940 while we have time to learn more about those threats and start to address them. 00:16:44.460 --> 00:16:50.700 So, there's sort of two general methods that we can use to create new corals for restoration, 00:16:50.700 --> 00:16:54.520 and both of them rely on natural coral reproductive processes. 00:16:54.820 --> 00:16:59.460 So the first method I'm gonna talk about is asexual reproduction or fragmentation. 00:16:59.460 --> 00:17:04.020 And this is something that's commonly, a strategy that's commonly used in Staghorn coral, 00:17:04.020 --> 00:17:05.540 like the one you see here. 00:17:05.820 --> 00:17:08.300 So if we take a look at this Staghorn coral, 00:17:08.300 --> 00:17:13.700 imagine it's on a reef and a hurricane or a rough storm comes by and the water's churning up, 00:17:13.700 --> 00:17:16.660 and one of the branches is broken off of that coral. 00:17:17.360 --> 00:17:21.060 What can happen, if that fragment falls into the right crevice 00:17:21.060 --> 00:17:26.040 or is captured by branches of other corals, and is stabilized well enough, 00:17:26.040 --> 00:17:32.120 it can actually grow new polyps down onto the reef and grow into a brand new, healthy colony. 00:17:32.380 --> 00:17:34.160 So it's as simple as that. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:37.000 Because this is an asexual process, 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:42.540 the new coral that grows from that fragment is genetically identical to the colony it came from. 00:17:43.760 --> 00:17:46.160 So, to generate corals for restoration, 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:48.780 we pretty much follow those exact same steps 00:17:48.780 --> 00:17:51.640 but just with human intervention at every step of the way. 00:17:51.940 --> 00:17:56.600 So a restoration practitioner will find a healthy coral on a reef 00:17:56.600 --> 00:18:01.500 and clip a portion of a branch off and cut those into smaller fragments 00:18:01.500 --> 00:18:04.400 that are established in what's known as a coral nursery. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:07.940 And I have a cool resource to show you guys. 00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:14.440 The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries has a really great VR library you can pull up, 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:18.340 and one of those is a virtual dive in a coral nursery. 00:18:18.340 --> 00:18:21.780 So this is in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, 00:18:21.780 --> 00:18:24.740 and here you can see Staghorn corals growing in that nursery. 00:18:24.740 --> 00:18:31.100 So a nursery is a place, typically, most of the nurseries we think of are in the ocean, 00:18:31.100 --> 00:18:33.120 so ocean-based nurseries, 00:18:33.120 --> 00:18:34.760 but some might be on land. 00:18:34.760 --> 00:18:36.780 This one's ocean-based as you can tell. 00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:42.180 And it's human-made structures that we can attach corals to, 00:18:42.180 --> 00:18:47.640 and structures like the tree nursery you see here allow the coral to grow in all dimensions. 00:18:47.640 --> 00:18:51.740 And with that fast growth rate, they can get very large quite quickly. 00:18:51.740 --> 00:18:56.620 And at that point, they can be fragmented all over again to create even more corals. 00:18:56.620 --> 00:18:59.720 And that's what these divers at the bottom here might be doing. 00:19:00.660 --> 00:19:04.340 And that also creates a self-sustaining stock of corals in the nursery, 00:19:04.340 --> 00:19:10.380 so practitioners don't have to go and keep taking additional branches from the wild population. 00:19:10.600 --> 00:19:13.400 Once they're in the nursery they can be used there. 00:19:14.020 --> 00:19:16.140 Go back to the presentation. 00:19:17.140 --> 00:19:23.660 The ultimate goal of this process is to outplant the nursery-grown corals back to the reefs. 00:19:23.660 --> 00:19:27.160 So the diver here is doing that with a marine epoxy, 00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:31.120 so it's sort of like a putty that can be used to adhere the coral to the reef, 00:19:31.120 --> 00:19:35.740 and eventually, the coral will grow down over the epoxy and cement to the reef naturally. 00:19:35.740 --> 00:19:41.720 And those corals can grow large and begin to provide those services like creating habitat. 00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:46.580 And eventually, the hope is that once a population of restored corals is established, 00:19:46.580 --> 00:19:51.760 they can begin to reproduce naturally to contribute toward recovery of the species. 00:19:53.320 --> 00:19:58.540 The other method corals can use to reproduce is sexual reproduction or spawning. 00:19:58.820 --> 00:20:01.700 There's a few different sexual reproduction methods corals use 00:20:01.700 --> 00:20:06.900 but I'll focus on Elkhorn and Staghorn coral again and the process they use. 00:20:06.900 --> 00:20:08.640 So in this diagram on the bottom left, 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:10.580 there you can see are fragment propagules, 00:20:10.580 --> 00:20:13.700 so there's your example of the asexual process, 00:20:13.700 --> 00:20:17.720 but the rest of this cycle focuses on broadcast spawning. 00:20:18.460 --> 00:20:22.160 So both Elkhorn and staghorn corals are hermaphrodites. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:25.496 That means they release both male and female gametes, 00:20:25.500 --> 00:20:27.800 and they do this once per year. 00:20:28.040 --> 00:20:30.200 They release egg and sperm bundles, 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:33.680 which gently float up to the surface and then break apart. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:38.100 And typically what happens is that the corals know when to spawn 00:20:38.100 --> 00:20:42.260 based on the lunar cycle, water temperature, day length. 00:20:42.260 --> 00:20:47.940 So all of the corals in an area typically know to release their gametes right around the same time. 00:20:48.320 --> 00:20:50.900 So those egg and sperm bundles break up at the surface, 00:20:50.900 --> 00:20:54.460 and the eggs will be fertilized by the sperm from another colony. 00:20:54.820 --> 00:20:57.960 That will grow, that fertilized egg will grow into an embryo 00:20:57.960 --> 00:21:02.220 and then into a pelagic planula or free-swimming larva. 00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:05.620 So, the planula stage is the only time in a coral's life 00:21:05.620 --> 00:21:08.480 when it can actually freely swim through the water. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:12.360 And what the planulae do is they look for the right spot on a reef, 00:21:12.360 --> 00:21:15.000 and then they go and attach themselves to that spot 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:18.380 and turn into a single polyp, that primary polyp. 00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:22.460 The one polyp grows into a few polyps, then many polyps, 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:25.640 finally into a juvenile coral and then an adult coral 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:30.420 And we can use this process for restoration as well. 00:21:30.420 --> 00:21:33.200 So here's an example of Elkhorn coral spawning. 00:21:33.520 --> 00:21:37.040 Some people describe it as an upside-down underwater snowstorm, 00:21:37.040 --> 00:21:40.520 and you can see why with those bundles slowly floating to the surface. 00:21:41.560 --> 00:21:45.240 What practitioners can do is use these conical nets, 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:50.680 and then as the coral spawns, those bundles will gently float up and into collection cups. 00:21:51.760 --> 00:21:53.340 Those can be brought to the surface 00:21:53.340 --> 00:21:56.360 and then mixed with bundles from other colonies. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:02.540 And ultimately, the eggs will get fertilized and make it to that primary polyp stage. 00:22:03.500 --> 00:22:09.420 These, these planulae are typically settled in a lab setting or an aquarium, 00:22:09.420 --> 00:22:13.440 and then ultimately, they will grow into juvenile and adult corals. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:15.000 And it's the same end goal, right, 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.680 we want to create more corals that can be put back out onto the reef. 00:22:19.860 --> 00:22:22.580 This, using this method has a couple advantages. 00:22:22.580 --> 00:22:25.840 The first is that a single spawning event can provide 00:22:25.840 --> 00:22:28.960 maybe hundreds or thousands of new corals. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:31.240 And it also adds to genetic diversity, 00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:37.980 since these are, since through sexual reproduction you get brand new genetic individuals, 00:22:37.980 --> 00:22:43.560 whereas with the asexual process, you're creating the same genetic individual over and over again. 00:22:45.360 --> 00:22:47.480 So now I'm gonna jump to, 00:22:48.260 --> 00:22:51.540 now that we have a background in the restoration process, 00:22:51.540 --> 00:22:54.940 I'm gonna talk about a few current topics in coral restoration. 00:22:56.180 --> 00:23:01.940 The first couple topics, cryopreservation and assisted gene flow, as well as coral rescue, 00:23:01.940 --> 00:23:04.080 are not projects I've led, 00:23:04.080 --> 00:23:07.240 but I've been lucky enough to assist with these in some capacity. 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:10.500 And I think this group will really find those interesting. 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:13.400 The third topic, restoration site selection, 00:23:13.400 --> 00:23:17.580 will focus on the study I conducted during my time at University of Flordia. 00:23:17.580 --> 00:23:20.420 And then last we'll end on Mission: Iconic Reefs, 00:23:20.420 --> 00:23:25.820 which is a really exciting new plan to restore reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:30.220 Okay, so let's talk first about coral cryopreservation 00:23:30.220 --> 00:23:34.080 and how it can help us create corals for use in restoration. 00:23:35.100 --> 00:23:40.040 So we discussed the pros of generating new corals through sexual reproduction, 00:23:40.040 --> 00:23:41.900 but there are some cons. 00:23:42.340 --> 00:23:47.880 And one of them is that something called asynchronous spawning can happen. 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:52.560 So typically, all of the colonies in the same area get the same cues from the environment 00:23:52.560 --> 00:23:54.240 and they know to spawn at once, 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:57.680 but sometimes that doesn't happen exactly on schedule. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:01.320 So let's say we're working on a reef with two Elkhorn colonies. 00:24:01.320 --> 00:24:03.381 Colony A spawns on Saturday, 00:24:03.381 --> 00:24:05.460 and Colony B doesn't spawn till Sunday 00:24:05.460 --> 00:24:10.300 but you want to create new baby corals from those two colonies. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:14.420 Because the gametes are typically only active for a few hours, 00:24:14.420 --> 00:24:17.960 if they spawn in different days we won't be able to make those baby corals. 00:24:18.520 --> 00:24:21.500 So this is where cryopreservation can help. 00:24:21.500 --> 00:24:28.100 Cryopreservation is a method for preserving living cells by freezing them at very, very low temperatures, 00:24:28.100 --> 00:24:31.960 and Dr. Mary Hagedorn who's pictured on the left there, 00:24:31.960 --> 00:24:35.340 and her team at the Smithsonian Institution have really pioneered 00:24:35.340 --> 00:24:40.520 cryopreservation method, methods for coral sperm as well as coral larvae. 00:24:41.100 --> 00:24:42.940 So now using those methods, 00:24:42.940 --> 00:24:49.220 what we can do is cryo-, cryopreserve coral sperm that's released on Saturday 00:24:49.220 --> 00:24:54.740 and then spawn that sperm Sunday and use it to fertilize those eggs from Colony B on Sunday. 00:24:54.740 --> 00:24:59.000 So it gives us a little bit of a leg up when trying to create these colonies. 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:06.480 And that's an image of what cryopreserved-sperm look like after they're, after they're thawed, 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:09.500 and what's really cool, you'll see in a minute, 00:25:09.500 --> 00:25:15.260 these sperm can be cryopreserved for years and still be thawed like this and be viable. 00:25:17.120 --> 00:25:19.700 So recently, Dr. Hagedorn led a, led a study 00:25:19.700 --> 00:25:24.100 to look at application of cryopreservation in assisted gene flow. 00:25:24.780 --> 00:25:31.060 So assisted gene flow is the human-assisted movement of individuals or gametes between geographic regions 00:25:31.060 --> 00:25:37.020 to introduce new genes that could aid in long-term survival for a given coral species. 00:25:37.820 --> 00:25:39.520 So corals, as we talked about, 00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:43.320 corals are currently under threat from rapidly warming oceans. 00:25:43.320 --> 00:25:48.220 And so you and me, if our environment got too warm, let's say we're down in Florida, 00:25:48.220 --> 00:25:51.380 we can move further north, right, where it's a little cooler. 00:25:51.380 --> 00:25:54.600 Corals can't do that because once they settle as a planula, 00:25:54.600 --> 00:25:57.200 they're stuck in the same spot for their whole lives. 00:25:57.840 --> 00:25:59.840 And they also can't adapt fast enough 00:25:59.840 --> 00:26:03.060 to keep up with the rapid rate of warming that we're seeing in our oceans, 00:26:03.060 --> 00:26:04.540 so they're really threatened. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:09.840 Using assisted gene flow, scientists can breed corals from different regions 00:26:09.840 --> 00:26:15.240 to potentially introduce genes from, let's say Curacao to Florida, 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:19.200 that could improve the ability of corals to survive those warm waters. 00:26:19.720 --> 00:26:24.520 So the first test of assisted gene flow in Elkhorn corals happened in 2018, 00:26:24.520 --> 00:26:26.300 and the team did just that. 00:26:26.300 --> 00:26:32.120 So, Elkhorn coral sperm was collected and cryopreserved in Florida in 2016, 00:26:32.120 --> 00:26:35.160 and the same was done in Puerto Rico in 2008. 00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:38.540 And then that sperm was brought to Curacao in 2018 00:26:38.540 --> 00:26:42.580 where it was used to fertilize eggs from Curacao Elkhorn coral 00:26:42.580 --> 00:26:45.840 to determine whether successful fertilization would occur. 00:26:46.580 --> 00:26:49.100 And if we take a look at this graph, 00:26:49.100 --> 00:26:52.340 you'll see that although reproductive success was not as high 00:26:52.340 --> 00:26:55.240 as it was for Curacao sperm crossed with Curacao eggs, 00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:57.960 those are the middle two columns, those higher ones. 00:26:57.960 --> 00:27:03.420 On the right, you'll see Florida and Puerto Rico sperm crossed with Curacao eggs, 00:27:03.420 --> 00:27:07.180 and you'll see that there was successful reproduction for the very first time. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:09.100 And then this is the results, 00:27:09.100 --> 00:27:10.460 so this is pretty exciting. 00:27:10.460 --> 00:27:14.360 On the left, you see six-week-old baby Elkhorn coral colonies 00:27:14.360 --> 00:27:17.460 with moms from Curacao and dads from Florida, 00:27:17.460 --> 00:27:21.720 and on the right, it's the same but with moms from Curacao and dads from Puerto Rico. 00:27:21.720 --> 00:27:25.760 So a lot more research is needed to learn more about this study 00:27:25.760 --> 00:27:29.560 and understand if these babies actually can stand up to those warm temperatures 00:27:29.560 --> 00:27:32.440 a bit better then their parents can, 00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:39.600 but what we found in this is a potential new tool in the box to aid in making new corals for restoration 00:27:39.600 --> 00:27:43.480 that could potentially be able to better survive these conditions. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:46.440 And now I'm gonna change gears a bit 00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:52.080 to highlight another project that is currently underway to help corals survive a different threat. 00:27:52.080 --> 00:27:54.400 So I previously discussed the threat of disease, 00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:58.620 and I talked about that disease that affects Staghorn and Elkhorn corals, 00:27:58.620 --> 00:28:01.040 that's sometimes known as white band disease. 00:28:01.340 --> 00:28:06.800 Well in 2014, a different brand new disease popped up off of Florida, 00:28:06.800 --> 00:28:09.740 and it's called stony coral tissue loss disease. 00:28:10.220 --> 00:28:14.940 This disease affects nearly half of all Florida and Caribbean coral species, 00:28:14.940 --> 00:28:20.180 and as you can see in this photo, it can result in really rapid mortality. 00:28:20.180 --> 00:28:26.640 So, in just about a month of, since the disease started affecting this colony, 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:30.420 60% of the colony would, unfortunately died. 00:28:30.980 --> 00:28:34.820 So to help protect Florida's remaining corals from this disease, 00:28:34.820 --> 00:28:38.380 NOAA, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 00:28:38.380 --> 00:28:42.780 Florida's Department of Environmental Protection, the National Park Service, 00:28:42.780 --> 00:28:47.840 and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums have teamed up to develop a coral rescue strategy. 00:28:47.840 --> 00:28:52.160 And I actually got to participate in one of these cruises as a Knauss fellow last year. 00:28:52.780 --> 00:28:58.040 As stony coral tissue loss is slowly sweeping south along the Florida reef track, 00:28:58.040 --> 00:29:03.020 so it started near Miami, and it's slowly making its way south through the Florida Keys. 00:29:03.020 --> 00:29:05.840 What the coral rescue team is doing is they're collecting 00:29:05.840 --> 00:29:11.040 the diseased susceptible species from reefs that haven't yet been affected by the disease. 00:29:11.040 --> 00:29:16.520 And those are being brought into academic and AZA facilities for safekeeping. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:21.380 And that creates a living genetic archive of these disease susceptible species. 00:29:21.380 --> 00:29:26.960 So in the future once we learn more about this disease and figure out how we can combat it, 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:32.480 these rescued corals can be used to create new baby corals that can help us with restoration. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:37.160 And some really exciting news just came out yesterday related to this project. 00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:40.780 Some of my former colleagues at the Florida Aquarium, 00:29:40.780 --> 00:29:45.480 just observed for the very first time, they got one of these susceptible species 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:49.780 that was actually rescued as part of this project, it's called the Ridge Cactus coral, 00:29:49.780 --> 00:29:54.520 and they were able to reproduce it successfully in captivity for the very first time. 00:29:54.520 --> 00:29:57.920 So, that is a very good sign for the project. 00:29:59.180 --> 00:30:05.940 This is a screenshot of a dashboard of information for the coral rescue project. 00:30:05.940 --> 00:30:08.980 I added a link in the notes for this presentation, 00:30:08.980 --> 00:30:13.400 but you can also pull it up from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's website. 00:30:13.400 --> 00:30:16.500 This shows you how many corals have been to date, 00:30:16.500 --> 00:30:18.260 what species, where they come from. 00:30:18.260 --> 00:30:20.420 But one of the coolest things is on the bottom left 00:30:20.420 --> 00:30:23.040 where you see current housing facility. 00:30:23.040 --> 00:30:26.340 So you might think these corals are being rescued only in Florida, 00:30:26.340 --> 00:30:28.500 so they're probably being kept in Florida, 00:30:28.500 --> 00:30:34.140 but one of the great things about the partnership with AZA is that these rescued corals are being kept 00:30:34.140 --> 00:30:36.620 in zoos and aquariums all over the country. 00:30:36.620 --> 00:30:41.520 So, from Michigan to New Jersey to Texas to Iowa to Nebraska, 00:30:41.520 --> 00:30:46.540 these corals are being, are being held and taken care of all over. 00:30:46.540 --> 00:30:49.020 So I strongly recommend you check that out 00:30:49.020 --> 00:30:51.880 and see if there's any rescued corals in your neck of the woods. 00:30:51.880 --> 00:30:54.500 And a lot of them are being kept on public display, 00:30:54.500 --> 00:30:59.560 so once those facilities are open to the public, you might be able to even go visit some of the corals. 00:31:00.820 --> 00:31:04.080 Okay, now I'm gonna transition a little bit 00:31:04.080 --> 00:31:08.420 and talk about once we generate these corals for restoration, where do we put them? 00:31:08.420 --> 00:31:12.360 So this was actually part of my PhD studies at the University of Florida, 00:31:12.360 --> 00:31:15.260 and it focused, we're gonna go back to Staghorn coral again. 00:31:15.260 --> 00:31:17.400 So this focused on Staghorn coral. 00:31:17.860 --> 00:31:22.360 Staghorn coral typically used to be found on four reefs like the ones you see here, 00:31:22.360 --> 00:31:25.180 and those are the reefs you typically think of when you think of 00:31:25.180 --> 00:31:29.360 where you'd go to dive or snorkel in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 00:31:29.900 --> 00:31:34.380 Those kind of iconic reefs that used to have those thickets of Elkhorn and Staghorn coral. 00:31:34.740 --> 00:31:40.420 But more recently, what we're finding is that wild Staghorn coral, what's left of it, 00:31:40.420 --> 00:31:43.960 tends to be found potentially in higher abundances 00:31:43.960 --> 00:31:48.540 and it might be a little healthier on these smaller inshore patch reefs. 00:31:49.340 --> 00:31:55.220 So we wanted to conduct an experiment to take corals generated for restoration 00:31:55.220 --> 00:31:58.020 and outplant them to both patch reefs and fore reefs 00:31:58.020 --> 00:32:00.900 and see how they grew and how healthy they were. 00:32:01.260 --> 00:32:05.480 So we took 48 colonies of Staghorn coral, 00:32:05.480 --> 00:32:08.880 reared by the Coral Restoration Foundation in the Florida Keys, 00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:14.260 and planted 48 colonies each to two patch reefs and two fore reefs in the sanctuary. 00:32:15.580 --> 00:32:18.860 And we monitored those corals over the course of a year, 00:32:18.860 --> 00:32:21.080 taking measurements and photographs. 00:32:21.080 --> 00:32:26.720 And something kind of happened that we did not expect halfway through that experiment. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:29.220 Hurricane Irma passed over the Florida Keys, 00:32:29.220 --> 00:32:32.740 so that was an unexpected variable that was introduced to our study. 00:32:32.740 --> 00:32:37.160 And it delayed our monitoring till January of 2018. 00:32:37.160 --> 00:32:40.180 And if we take a look at the size of Hurricane Irma, 00:32:40.180 --> 00:32:42.800 here you can see the hurricane but you can't see the state of Florida, 00:32:42.800 --> 00:32:45.680 so that gives you a sense of the size of this storm. 00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:47.400 And if we zoom into the eye, 00:32:47.400 --> 00:32:49.700 there's the hurricane passing over the Florida Keys, 00:32:49.700 --> 00:32:52.120 and the red star indicates our study sites. 00:32:52.120 --> 00:32:56.960 So we were a little nervous about what we might find when we returned after the hurricane, 00:32:56.960 --> 00:33:00.360 and it was sort of a worst-case scenario at our fore reef sites. 00:33:00.360 --> 00:33:06.720 So, we couldn't find a single colony, not even a dead coral skeleton, 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:09.660 so that was pretty disappointing. 00:33:09.660 --> 00:33:13.320 But we were surprised when we went to our patch reef sites 00:33:13.320 --> 00:33:18.120 to find about 50% survival of all of the corals that we outplanted. 00:33:18.120 --> 00:33:21.540 And even though we did have some damage from the hurricane, 00:33:21.540 --> 00:33:27.640 these corals were able to recover and have had positive rates of growth by the end of the experiment. 00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:29.860 So relatively, they did well. 00:33:31.900 --> 00:33:34.880 Because the hurricane wasn't something we were expecting, 00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:40.120 we worked with Coral Restoration Foundation to look at their pre- and post-Irma monitoring records 00:33:40.120 --> 00:33:43.180 for an additional three patch reef and three fore reef sites. 00:33:43.760 --> 00:33:46.140 And what we found was exactly the same trend. 00:33:46.140 --> 00:33:51.360 So post-hurricane survival was higher at patch reef versus fore reef sites. 00:33:52.200 --> 00:33:54.540 So what exactly was going on? 00:33:55.120 --> 00:33:59.960 So one of the things we think happened had to do with reef geology, 00:33:59.960 --> 00:34:02.540 and this is something we've known for a while. 00:34:02.540 --> 00:34:03.940 If you take a look at this diagram, 00:34:03.940 --> 00:34:08.060 you'll see the reef crest lies between the fore reef and the patch reefs. 00:34:08.060 --> 00:34:11.100 Well that reef crest is responsible for dissipating 00:34:11.100 --> 00:34:14.680 86% of wave energy that hits the reef. 00:34:14.680 --> 00:34:17.340 So those patch reefs are a lot more protected 00:34:17.340 --> 00:34:20.600 and were a lot more protected when the hurricane passed over. 00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:28.260 Additionally when we look at those 1975 photos and those thicket structures, 00:34:28.260 --> 00:34:34.280 those thickets, historically, helped the broken fragments that will break off in a storm stay at the site, 00:34:34.280 --> 00:34:38.940 helps them kind of stabilize and be able to reattach and grow into a new colony. 00:34:38.940 --> 00:34:41.280 Because we've lost that structure now, 00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:46.880 there's not as much complexity and not as much structure to keep broken fragments at the site, 00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:51.640 and it makes it much more likely that they would roll away and be transported away from the site. 00:34:51.640 --> 00:34:55.680 And that's likely why we didn't find a single coral at our fore reef sites. 00:34:56.920 --> 00:34:58.640 So what does that mean? 00:34:58.640 --> 00:35:02.340 That doesn't mean we should discount fore reefs completely, 00:35:02.340 --> 00:35:06.300 but it does mean we should increase the amount of effort at patch reef sites. 00:35:06.300 --> 00:35:11.120 This study did show that they're able to withstand some disturbances, like hurricanes, 00:35:11.120 --> 00:35:12.800 potentially better than fore reefs. 00:35:13.180 --> 00:35:17.720 But it shows us that we need to change the way we look at restoration on fore reefs. 00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:25.460 So, likely increasing the number of corals that we plant to facilitate those thickets I'm growing, 00:35:25.460 --> 00:35:28.800 so 48 colonies most likely wasn't enough to do that. 00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:33.540 But also increasing the biodiversity associated with our restored sites, 00:35:33.540 --> 00:35:36.420 so outplanting more than just Staghorn coral. 00:35:36.420 --> 00:35:40.220 Staghorn coral has these thin branches which are a lot more prone to breakage 00:35:40.220 --> 00:35:43.020 than let's say the star coral, those boulder corals. 00:35:43.020 --> 00:35:45.700 So including a lot of different types of coral 00:35:45.700 --> 00:35:48.500 and organisms that can help keep corals healthy 00:35:48.500 --> 00:35:52.500 could potentially increase the resilience of the site after a hurricane. 00:35:54.280 --> 00:35:58.000 And those ideas lead me straight into the last topic I'm gonna talk about, 00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:02.000 which deals with the future of coral restoration and what that might look like 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:04.460 in Florida and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 00:36:05.080 --> 00:36:11.100 So, researchers and managers are recognizing that while we've made a lot of progress, 00:36:11.100 --> 00:36:13.920 a huge amount of progress in the past three decades, 00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:16.400 to truly achieve rescale restoration, 00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:19.960 we need to start rethinking some of the ways that we're doing things. 00:36:20.900 --> 00:36:25.120 About a year ago, I was able to participate in a workshop 00:36:25.120 --> 00:36:29.620 that was a team of managers, researchers, and restoration practitioners. 00:36:29.620 --> 00:36:35.300 And that group met up to discuss what it would truly take to restore an iconic Florida reef. 00:36:35.300 --> 00:36:36.820 A lot of factors were discussed, 00:36:36.820 --> 00:36:43.120 so everything from how to prioritize sites, to reef zonation, species composition, 00:36:43.120 --> 00:36:47.940 methods for coral grow out and outplanting genetic diversity, 00:36:47.940 --> 00:36:51.240 and also how to maintain and monitor restoration sites. 00:36:51.240 --> 00:36:52.340 And out of that discussion, 00:36:52.340 --> 00:36:55.580 a plan known as Mission: Iconic Reefs was developed. 00:36:56.240 --> 00:37:01.000 Mission: Iconic Reefs is a comprehensive plan for conducting ecosystem-level restoration 00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:04.860 at seven iconic sites in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. 00:37:04.860 --> 00:37:09.620 In each selected site, detailed habitat maps were developed using GIS, 00:37:09.620 --> 00:37:11.760 as well as in water surveys. 00:37:11.760 --> 00:37:15.580 And based on the area of each of these reef zones, 00:37:15.580 --> 00:37:20.620 experts were able to determine values from target, for a target percent cover 00:37:20.620 --> 00:37:24.020 of each coral species that would typically live in that zone. 00:37:24.020 --> 00:37:28.440 So, by percent cover, I mean the two-dimensional area 00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:31.020 that each species should cover on the reef. 00:37:31.800 --> 00:37:34.560 And one of the ways that I got to be involved in this effort 00:37:34.560 --> 00:37:36.480 was to help integrate information about 00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:40.940 restoration techniques, species growth rates, and expected mortality 00:37:40.940 --> 00:37:45.280 to try to translate that percent cover target into 00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:48.700 the actual number of corals that would need to be outplanted. 00:37:48.700 --> 00:37:53.440 So if we take a look at this row for Elkhorn coral. 00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:58.420 So this is just for one section of one reef, Loo Key Reef. 00:37:58.420 --> 00:38:02.420 And for Elkhorn coral, the target for just that zone 00:38:02.420 --> 00:38:05.140 is 9,000 corals over 30 years, 00:38:05.140 --> 00:38:11.040 so that's a far cry from the 48 that we planted in that experiment before. 00:38:11.040 --> 00:38:14.300 So that addresses that concern of not enough corals 00:38:14.300 --> 00:38:17.160 and not enough scale in these restoration efforts. 00:38:18.240 --> 00:38:22.480 The other thing I want you to notice is that on the left, 00:38:22.480 --> 00:38:27.160 you'll see this plan also incorporates a wide variety of species groups, 00:38:27.160 --> 00:38:29.940 so not just Elkhorn coral and Staghorn coral, 00:38:29.940 --> 00:38:33.820 but Star coral, Brain coral, a variety of other species groups 00:38:33.820 --> 00:38:36.320 that can help increase the biodiversity at the site, 00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:38.960 so that addresses that concern as well. 00:38:40.020 --> 00:38:46.100 And in addition to, in addition to this plan for actually active coral restoration, 00:38:46.100 --> 00:38:49.840 there are a lot of other components that this plan takes into account. 00:38:49.840 --> 00:38:54.320 So things like site preparation, removing nuisance algae. 00:38:54.320 --> 00:38:56.340 Algae on reefs, if there's too much of it, 00:38:56.340 --> 00:38:59.220 it can compete with corals for space and light, 00:38:59.220 --> 00:39:02.400 so it's not great for keeping corals healthy. 00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:07.140 So, practitioners can come in and remove that excess algae before planting. 00:39:07.780 --> 00:39:10.820 You'll notice in number three, supplementing with grazers, 00:39:10.820 --> 00:39:13.600 that's something that was built into this plan as well. 00:39:13.600 --> 00:39:20.120 So, we're starting to think about how we can restore historically important grazers, 00:39:20.120 --> 00:39:24.160 like sea urchins, that will help naturally control that algae. 00:39:24.160 --> 00:39:27.800 How we can restore them in tandem with corals. 00:39:29.180 --> 00:39:33.040 Stewardship and maintenance is also an important component, 00:39:33.040 --> 00:39:40.660 so sites will need to receive professional care to make sure broken corals are stabilized, 00:39:40.660 --> 00:39:45.060 to keep coral predators, like snails, away, and things like that. 00:39:45.060 --> 00:39:48.800 And then last, last but not least, monitoring and adaptive management 00:39:48.800 --> 00:39:51.840 is a really important aspect of this project as well. 00:39:51.840 --> 00:39:55.540 That's important to make sure that we're reaching our goals 00:39:55.540 --> 00:39:59.860 and to be able to correct things if we're noticing any problems. 00:40:00.720 --> 00:40:04.460 And the last thing that I want to highlight which I think is 00:40:04.460 --> 00:40:09.060 kind of one of the most important aspects of Mission: Iconic Reefs and one of the coolest things. 00:40:09.060 --> 00:40:11.560 So, over the last 30 years, 00:40:11.560 --> 00:40:15.440 like I said, we've made a ton of progress in the field of coral restoration, 00:40:15.440 --> 00:40:22.640 and there's been tons of state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, 00:40:22.640 --> 00:40:26.220 all of them working on various aspects of coral restoration 00:40:26.220 --> 00:40:28.760 and answering really important questions that we've had. 00:40:29.140 --> 00:40:32.380 But what makes Mission: Iconic Reefs different is that for the first time, 00:40:32.380 --> 00:40:36.560 all of these organizations are coming together and working toward 00:40:36.560 --> 00:40:42.180 this one common goal to conduct ecosystem-level restoration on Florida Keys reefs. 00:40:42.180 --> 00:40:44.960 And I personally think that's really exciting, 00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:48.520 and I think that's what's gonna make all the difference in this effort. 00:40:48.520 --> 00:40:50.780 And I will leave you on that positive note, 00:40:50.780 --> 00:40:52.800 and say thank you very much for your time today. 00:40:52.800 --> 00:40:54.140 I really appreciate it. 00:40:56.280 --> 00:40:57.940 - Excellent, thank you, Katie. 00:40:57.940 --> 00:40:59.540 That was a great presentation, 00:40:59.540 --> 00:41:02.680 and boy, are we getting tons of questions. 00:41:02.680 --> 00:41:03.940 - Oh goodness, alright! 00:41:03.940 --> 00:41:07.240 - So I'm gonna let Jacqueline kick off questions from the question box, 00:41:07.240 --> 00:41:12.100 And then again, for any of you that would like to raise your hand in the control panel, 00:41:12.100 --> 00:41:17.480 that alerts me to unmute you and then you can verbally ask your question, okay? 00:41:17.480 --> 00:41:18.740 So we'll start with the question box, 00:41:18.740 --> 00:41:19.840 go ahead Jacqueline. 00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:23.640 - Okay, so this question was by Robin. 00:41:23.640 --> 00:41:27.320 Robin asked Elkhorn and Staghorn corals are both listed for protection 00:41:27.320 --> 00:41:29.180 under the Federal Endangered Species Act. 00:41:29.180 --> 00:41:31.560 What permitting process did you go through, 00:41:31.560 --> 00:41:33.520 restoration efforts have to go through? 00:41:35.720 --> 00:41:36.720 - That's a great question. 00:41:36.720 --> 00:41:41.400 So, so restoration permits are, 00:41:41.400 --> 00:41:44.820 if they take place in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, 00:41:44.820 --> 00:41:49.240 they require a permit from the sanctuary and also from the state of Florida. 00:41:50.080 --> 00:41:52.860 That is the process I'm unfortunately most familiar with, 00:41:52.860 --> 00:41:57.780 so I can't really speak to other, other locations unfortunately. 00:41:59.200 --> 00:41:59.700 - Great! 00:42:00.260 --> 00:42:03.400 - Okay let me go ahead and check if there's anyone raising, 00:42:03.400 --> 00:42:05.120 oh there's a few people, okay. 00:42:05.120 --> 00:42:08.700 So, Judith Cuco, if I said that correctly, 00:42:09.200 --> 00:42:11.620 you've been unmuted go ahead and ask your question. 00:42:14.040 --> 00:42:16.260 - No, I just, I wasn't, I don't have a question, 00:42:16.260 --> 00:42:20.060 I just wasn't able to enter my information on the poll. 00:42:20.060 --> 00:42:20.980 - Okay, no problem. 00:42:20.980 --> 00:42:22.620 We'll go to the next person. 00:42:22.620 --> 00:42:24.780 Sorry, there was some issue with the poll question, 00:42:24.780 --> 00:42:25.780 we apologize for that, 00:42:25.780 --> 00:42:30.180 but it was great that many of you typed in your response to the question box. 00:42:30.180 --> 00:42:33.460 and sorry that there was a problem with that. 00:42:33.460 --> 00:42:37.560 But for now, let's now go to Lawrence Raimondi. 00:42:37.560 --> 00:42:40.060 You've been unmuted on our end Lawrence. 00:42:40.060 --> 00:42:43.540 If you go ahead and unmute yourself on your end, 00:42:43.540 --> 00:42:45.780 you can ask your question orally. 00:42:47.420 --> 00:42:49.020 Jacqueline get ready if this doesn't work out 00:42:49.020 --> 00:42:51.240 you can ask another one from the question box. 00:42:52.320 --> 00:42:54.280 Alright, doesn't look like it's working for Lawrence, 00:42:54.280 --> 00:42:57.660 so let's go ahead and pull another question. 00:42:58.360 --> 00:42:58.860 - Okay. 00:42:58.860 --> 00:43:00.440 - Actually, this is a good one. 00:43:00.440 --> 00:43:01.500 Oh, unless you have one. 00:43:01.500 --> 00:43:02.000 Go ahead. 00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:03.000 -Go ahead, Claire. 00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:07.160 - Okay, okay so this one's coming from a Lorraine, 00:43:07.160 --> 00:43:10.440 and she's saying are any of these species able to adapt, 00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:13.720 such as finding stands that are more warm water tolerant. 00:43:13.720 --> 00:43:15.840 I know you talked a little bit about this. 00:43:16.340 --> 00:43:19.000 - Yeah, excuse me. 00:43:19.600 --> 00:43:26.120 Yeah, so, so adaptation is a process that takes place over generations of time. 00:43:26.120 --> 00:43:31.860 So, as these corals reproduce sexually, naturally, 00:43:31.860 --> 00:43:39.340 over time, nature will select for offspring that are more tolerant to current ocean conditions. 00:43:39.340 --> 00:43:43.340 But because the rate of ocean warming is happening so quickly, 00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:45.480 we really don't have time. 00:43:45.480 --> 00:43:50.000 There's not enough time for that process to work because so many corals are dying. 00:43:50.400 --> 00:43:56.980 There are corals of all species that are naturally adapted to warmer climates 00:43:56.980 --> 00:44:00.380 just by nature of their genetic makeup. 00:44:00.720 --> 00:44:05.100 There have been some really good studies done on reefs that are just 00:44:05.100 --> 00:44:09.440 naturally really really hot and sometimes really really acidic as well, 00:44:09.440 --> 00:44:11.980 and there are corals that sometimes thrive there because 00:44:11.980 --> 00:44:16.720 just the right planula with the right genetic makeup landed on that reef 00:44:16.720 --> 00:44:19.740 and was able to survive and grow. 00:44:20.460 --> 00:44:22.540 So there's being, there's a lot of work being done 00:44:22.540 --> 00:44:27.700 with those natural, naturally stress-tolerant corals. 00:44:27.700 --> 00:44:30.240 There's a lot of interest in identifying those, 00:44:30.240 --> 00:44:34.640 and that was, so this is kind of, the other aspect of my PhD was 00:44:34.640 --> 00:44:37.860 looking at some of those aspects in Staghorn corals. 00:44:38.440 --> 00:44:43.640 But one of the reasons that we really want to identify those individuals is to 00:44:43.640 --> 00:44:49.200 start to be able to do some of that work, like assisted gene flow and assisted 00:44:50.220 --> 00:44:52.620 assisted evolution is sometimes what people call it, 00:44:52.620 --> 00:44:57.920 to try to introduce more of those adaptive genes into restored populations. 00:44:57.920 --> 00:45:01.560 So, that's a huge area of work in coral restoration right now. 00:45:04.260 --> 00:45:05.340 -Alright, thank you for that. 00:45:05.340 --> 00:45:07.120 Alright Jacqueline, do you have one in the queue. 00:45:13.200 --> 00:45:15.420 - There we go, sorry I was on mute. 00:45:15.960 --> 00:45:17.860 So the next time we had, 00:45:18.660 --> 00:45:22.440 is there any, I'm sorry, this one comes from Tara, 00:45:22.440 --> 00:45:28.480 is there any concern about lack of genetic diversity when using fragmented method. 00:45:29.380 --> 00:45:32.840 - Yes, yeah that is definitely a big concern. 00:45:33.860 --> 00:45:37.820 So for that reason, when using the fragmentation method, 00:45:37.820 --> 00:45:44.540 practitioners make a real effort to collect not just from one colony of origin on the reef 00:45:44.540 --> 00:45:48.780 but try to get as many colonies of origin as possible. 00:45:48.780 --> 00:45:52.720 And they do genotype all of the corals that come into their nurseries, 00:45:52.720 --> 00:45:57.620 so they're 100% sure what coral, who's who in the nursery 00:45:57.620 --> 00:45:59.960 and keep rigorous track of those. 00:45:59.960 --> 00:46:01.700 And when they outplant, 00:46:01.700 --> 00:46:05.080 they outplant stands that are genetically diverse. 00:46:05.080 --> 00:46:10.560 So, we definitely don't want to be outplanting the same genotype over and over and over again. 00:46:11.080 --> 00:46:13.900 It's not great in terms of surviving disturbances, 00:46:13.900 --> 00:46:15.800 and it's not great for reproduction either, 00:46:15.800 --> 00:46:20.200 so it's something that people are carefully considering when using that method. 00:46:24.520 --> 00:46:25.960 - Okay, let's see. 00:46:25.960 --> 00:46:27.920 Yeah, we have more time for a few more questions. 00:46:27.920 --> 00:46:29.320 There's just so many to choose from, 00:46:29.320 --> 00:46:33.140 and honestly, Jacqueline and I have been responding to a lot of questions and such 00:46:33.140 --> 00:46:34.960 that I'm like, wait did she talk about this, 00:46:34.960 --> 00:46:39.180 'cause unfortunately, we don't get to enjoy your presentation like most of the attendees 00:46:39.180 --> 00:46:42.240 since we're so focused on all these things coming in. 00:46:42.240 --> 00:46:46.960 So trying to make sure we're asking questions that aren't redundant to what you've already presented. 00:46:48.720 --> 00:46:50.660 Oh, here's a good one from John. 00:46:50.660 --> 00:46:52.300 - This is a good one from Jessie. 00:46:53.220 --> 00:46:54.340 - Okay let's start with John, 00:46:54.340 --> 00:46:55.420 and then I'll have you go to Jessie. 00:46:55.420 --> 00:46:58.400 John, if Staghorn corals get bleached from global warming, 00:46:58.400 --> 00:47:00.880 why are we using them in coral restoration? 00:47:01.700 --> 00:47:03.080 - That is a great question, 00:47:03.080 --> 00:47:08.360 and there are a lot of people that criticize coral restoration because 00:47:09.680 --> 00:47:11.640 there's sort of a difference in ideologies. 00:47:11.640 --> 00:47:14.580 So some people say we shouldn't be restoring these corals 00:47:14.580 --> 00:47:17.240 because of all these huge global threats. 00:47:17.820 --> 00:47:22.080 One thing I'll say is that, we, that's part of why we're trying to identify 00:47:22.080 --> 00:47:23.900 these stress-tolerant corals. 00:47:23.900 --> 00:47:26.400 And it's not just the coral that's stress-tolerant, 00:47:26.400 --> 00:47:29.240 the algae plays a huge role in thermo-tolerance, 00:47:29.240 --> 00:47:31.500 so that's being carefully looked at as well. 00:47:32.020 --> 00:47:35.480 But the main thing I guess I want to say is that, 00:47:35.480 --> 00:47:42.720 without restoration, it's possible that Staghorn coral would be wiped out a lot quicker 00:47:42.720 --> 00:47:46.620 than if we actually do intervene and conduct restoration. 00:47:46.620 --> 00:47:52.100 So restoration helps us maintain populations with a lot of effort on our parts, 00:47:52.100 --> 00:47:56.200 but it helps us maintain a population that we can actually work with 00:47:56.200 --> 00:47:58.340 as we hopefully start to abate these stressors. 00:47:58.340 --> 00:48:02.020 It's definitely something that needs to be done together. 00:48:02.020 --> 00:48:03.960 We can't just restore. 00:48:03.960 --> 00:48:07.180 We need to be abating global climate change as well, 00:48:07.180 --> 00:48:11.540 but restoration is a tool in the box that will help us keep this species alive 00:48:11.540 --> 00:48:15.100 until these stressors are reduced. 00:48:18.980 --> 00:48:20.240 - Alright, Jacqueline, you have one up? 00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:25.300 - So this is from Jessie, who teaches zoology at Oklahoma High School, 00:48:25.300 --> 00:48:29.580 and she wants to know what would you say are the biggest things 00:48:29.580 --> 00:48:34.520 that people who are landlocked states can do to impact coral reefs in a positive way. 00:48:34.940 --> 00:48:37.360 - That's a great question, 00:48:37.360 --> 00:48:40.180 and I would say the number one thing you can do 00:48:40.180 --> 00:48:46.300 is do everything in your power to try to address climate change, 00:48:46.300 --> 00:48:53.800 whether that is voting in your local or national level elections, 00:48:54.400 --> 00:48:56.840 reducing your energy use. 00:48:57.920 --> 00:49:03.000 There's a lot of strategies I think on epa.gov that you can use at home, 00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:07.480 but I would say, yes, climate change is the number one thing you can address 00:49:07.480 --> 00:49:11.940 because that is arguably the number one threat to corals around the world right now. 00:49:13.380 --> 00:49:15.900 - Yep so finding ways to reduce those carbon emissions, 00:49:15.900 --> 00:49:20.740 which right now planet Earth is getting a big, big breather, right, 00:49:20.740 --> 00:49:26.220 with a lot less fossil fuels being spent during our shelter at home times. 00:49:26.800 --> 00:49:30.980 Ah let's see, Brian Aldridge has an interesting one, 00:49:30.980 --> 00:49:32.140 and he brings up a good point. 00:49:32.140 --> 00:49:35.400 This type of ecosystem restoration is pretty bold, 00:49:35.400 --> 00:49:37.500 and boy, is that a true statement. 00:49:37.500 --> 00:49:41.920 Like 20 years ago, we used to, I think we even had a national marine sanctuary video 00:49:41.920 --> 00:49:45.180 that talked about, we can't plant coral reefs, 00:49:45.180 --> 00:49:49.900 as like, if we let them go to waste now, we can't plant them, 00:49:49.900 --> 00:49:53.280 and here we are now, fast-forward, doing just that. 00:49:53.280 --> 00:49:58.380 So his question is how confident are you that you have covered all of the possibilities? 00:49:58.380 --> 00:50:02.080 You and the larger coral reef restoration network. 00:50:02.760 --> 00:50:04.940 - In terms of Mission: Iconic Reefs? 00:50:05.720 --> 00:50:06.580 Or like ecosystem-level. 00:50:06.580 --> 00:50:08.240 - It doesn't specifically say, 00:50:08.240 --> 00:50:12.120 I guess just this whole reef restoration ecosystem restoration, restoration projects. 00:50:12.380 --> 00:50:15.940 - Well so, I'll talk about, I can use Mission: Iconic Reefs as an example, I guess. 00:50:15.940 --> 00:50:19.100 And, first of all, I will say, Claire, that 00:50:19.100 --> 00:50:24.020 the approach of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries to ecosystem restoration 00:50:24.020 --> 00:50:27.860 has really changed over the past several years 00:50:27.860 --> 00:50:34.360 and it's something that the sanctuary is now actively collaborating on with these partners 00:50:34.360 --> 00:50:37.440 so that is a really exciting change for our office. 00:50:38.740 --> 00:50:43.260 So for Mission: Iconic Reefs, how confident can we be that 00:50:43.260 --> 00:50:46.860 we're covering all the bases of, I guess 00:50:46.860 --> 00:50:51.180 whether we're adding, I'll assume you're asking like whether we're adding the right species, 00:50:51.680 --> 00:50:54.580 whether we've added enough herbivores, things like that. 00:50:54.580 --> 00:50:58.180 So that's where the monitoring aspect is so, so important. 00:50:58.180 --> 00:51:02.980 So, monitoring efforts for coral reefs in general can really inform us 00:51:02.980 --> 00:51:07.420 how rapidly things are changing and what kinds of things are changing. 00:51:07.420 --> 00:51:10.480 So, it'll help us identify any problems. 00:51:10.480 --> 00:51:13.960 So, if we see huge amounts of algal overgrowth, for example, 00:51:13.960 --> 00:51:19.500 we'll know, okay, well, we either need to add more or herbivores or start to address 00:51:19.500 --> 00:51:25.260 some of this algal overgrowth with actual humans that are diving and maintaining the reef. 00:51:25.800 --> 00:51:30.100 So, monitoring is a huge aspect of any conservation project 00:51:30.100 --> 00:51:35.780 because some people don't think it's as exciting as other science, 00:51:35.780 --> 00:51:43.200 but it's really telling us the information we need to know to be protecting that ecosystem effectively. 00:51:46.020 --> 00:51:47.300 Hope that answers the question. 00:51:47.300 --> 00:51:48.800 - Thank you for that. 00:51:50.140 --> 00:51:51.780 I fear you're gonna have a lot of homework 00:51:51.780 --> 00:51:53.960 'cause we're not gonna be able to get to all of these questions. 00:51:53.960 --> 00:51:54.460 - It's alright. 00:51:54.460 --> 00:51:57.600 - We probably can ask one, maybe two more, 00:51:57.600 --> 00:52:01.040 and then for those questions that remain unanswered, 00:52:01.040 --> 00:52:06.540 we will send them to Katie and give her a week or so to respond to them, 00:52:06.540 --> 00:52:10.760 and then we'll make sure to send her responses out to all of the attendees. 00:52:11.640 --> 00:52:13.600 So thanks for your patience on that. 00:52:15.700 --> 00:52:17.380 - Is it my turn or your turn Jacqueline? 00:52:19.800 --> 00:52:21.420 - You might have one ready, go for it, 00:52:21.420 --> 00:52:22.960 otherwise, I have one here as well. 00:52:23.340 --> 00:52:24.460 - I'll let you go. 00:52:24.960 --> 00:52:32.500 - Okay, so this one asks, how do you stimulate coral growth in captivity to enable faster growth, 00:52:32.500 --> 00:52:35.560 or do they just grow naturally on their own usual pace. 00:52:36.920 --> 00:52:37.860 - That's a great question. 00:52:38.900 --> 00:52:42.040 So, essentially they're just growing at their own rate, 00:52:42.040 --> 00:52:46.760 but there are things, there are strategies that people can use to control their growth rates. 00:52:46.760 --> 00:52:49.760 So, one of the cool things about land-based facilities 00:52:49.760 --> 00:52:52.460 is they can control every aspect of the environment. 00:52:52.460 --> 00:52:54.800 They can control how much light the coral is getting. 00:52:54.800 --> 00:52:56.940 That can affect how fast it grows. 00:52:56.940 --> 00:52:59.700 They can control temperature, they can control everything. 00:53:00.180 --> 00:53:05.680 And then for some of the boulder coral species that grow really slowly, 00:53:06.540 --> 00:53:12.020 Mote Marine Lab in the Florida Keys developed a really cool strategy called micro fragmentation 00:53:12.020 --> 00:53:16.600 where they can actually stimulate these coral species that typically grow slowly 00:53:16.600 --> 00:53:22.900 to grow much, much faster than they normally would by cutting them into really, really small pieces, 00:53:22.900 --> 00:53:27.320 and then that actually has been shown to stimulate growth. 00:53:27.320 --> 00:53:31.980 And those little tiny pieces can be sort of mounted on a structure and then fused together, 00:53:31.980 --> 00:53:34.560 so you get kind of a coral this size. 00:53:34.560 --> 00:53:38.440 That might take decades or even hundreds of years to grow that big, 00:53:38.440 --> 00:53:43.640 and you can generate a coral that size in a relatively shorter amount of time. 00:53:43.640 --> 00:53:49.640 So that is actually going to be a really important strategy for Mission: Iconic Reefs as well. 00:53:51.980 --> 00:53:53.420 -Alright, we'll take one last question, 00:53:53.420 --> 00:53:54.480 and we're gonna gamble. 00:53:54.480 --> 00:53:58.040 I'm going to unmute someone, see if we can get it to work this time. 00:53:58.040 --> 00:54:00.320 It's always unpredictable. 00:54:00.520 --> 00:54:02.240 So, let's see. 00:54:02.240 --> 00:54:06.280 Lawrence Raimondi, I was trying to private message you to see if you're prepared, 00:54:06.280 --> 00:54:10.320 but I'm gonna go ahead and unmute you now, Lawrence, if you have your question ready. 00:54:10.320 --> 00:54:12.660 You're muted on your end, but go ahead. 00:54:12.660 --> 00:54:14.040 - Hey, I have my question. 00:54:14.560 --> 00:54:17.260 We're gonna be starting a new business called Reef Quest. 00:54:17.640 --> 00:54:20.840 We're gonna be launching down in the Islamorada area. 00:54:20.840 --> 00:54:25.020 And our focus is really helping young families, children, 00:54:25.440 --> 00:54:30.120 to really understand the importance of reef development and reef conservation, 00:54:30.380 --> 00:54:34.220 and I was wondering what kind of tools would you recommend 00:54:34.220 --> 00:54:38.140 for us to be able to generate more information. 00:54:38.560 --> 00:54:44.200 I want to do a situation where there's literally media and knowledge to these people 00:54:44.200 --> 00:54:49.340 on a regular basis of how we're doing with coral restoration and growing it. 00:54:49.760 --> 00:54:55.020 Are there a lot of tools that we could use to help people to be more focused on this? 00:54:57.660 --> 00:55:00.240 - In terms of educational tools, 00:55:00.240 --> 00:55:04.880 the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries actually has a lot of educational resources, 00:55:04.880 --> 00:55:06.940 I believe, on coral reef conservation. 00:55:06.940 --> 00:55:10.400 There's actually a really good education module on our website 00:55:10.400 --> 00:55:14.780 on coral spawning and a variety of other topics. 00:55:15.940 --> 00:55:19.920 The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary themselves might have 00:55:19.920 --> 00:55:25.360 more resources specific to that sanctuary. 00:55:25.360 --> 00:55:30.440 Claire, you might have actually have more thoughts on those types of resources. 00:55:30.440 --> 00:55:32.400 - Yeah, like you said Katie, we do have, 00:55:32.400 --> 00:55:35.620 between the National Ocean Service and our national marine sanctuaries, 00:55:35.620 --> 00:55:40.420 we do have a robust library of coral reef materials. 00:55:40.420 --> 00:55:44.500 I'll make sure to, I guess this brings up a good segway, a good point. 00:55:44.500 --> 00:55:47.220 A lot of people are like, how am I gonna get all those web links? 00:55:47.220 --> 00:55:51.860 I have been putting them into your GoToWebinar control panels. 00:55:51.860 --> 00:55:54.540 They're showing up there if you want to click on them immediately, 00:55:54.540 --> 00:55:59.320 but I will also work to put together a little one-page PDF file that will be 00:55:59.320 --> 00:56:03.620 downloadable from our webinar archive of today's live presentation. 00:56:03.620 --> 00:56:05.500 So you'll be able to able to access all those links 00:56:05.500 --> 00:56:08.320 and share it with students and other interested folks. 00:56:08.320 --> 00:56:11.820 And I'll include some of the educational resources related to 00:56:11.820 --> 00:56:14.540 coral reef ecosystems on that as well. 00:56:14.540 --> 00:56:17.000 So thanks, Lawrence, for your question. 00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:22.480 We're gonna go ahead and wrap up our presentation today. 00:56:22.480 --> 00:56:25.460 Let's make sure, okay, we're good to go here. 00:56:25.460 --> 00:56:29.800 So I've already mentioned several times we do archive these recordings, 00:56:29.800 --> 00:56:34.480 and that's a long government URL, not to worry, you're gonna get it over email. 00:56:35.220 --> 00:56:39.520 Everyone that's attending today live will get a certificate of attendance, 00:56:39.520 --> 00:56:40.600 so it looks similar to this. 00:56:40.600 --> 00:56:44.080 It provides one contact hour of professional development. 00:56:44.080 --> 00:56:46.560 For those that watch the video recording and get to this point, 00:56:46.560 --> 00:56:54.520 you can email the sanctuary.education@noaa.gov, which is linked to this webinar, and request it. 00:56:55.340 --> 00:56:56.860 And then just to let you know, 00:56:56.860 --> 00:57:00.760 we do have this robust distance learning series. 00:57:00.760 --> 00:57:03.420 Tomorrow, we have another presentation. 00:57:03.420 --> 00:57:07.440 This is going to be focused on the marine heatwaves in the Pacific Northwest, 00:57:07.440 --> 00:57:11.800 and this is with Dr. Jan Newton, who's from the University of Washington. 00:57:11.800 --> 00:57:14.780 So we're very excited to have her joining us, 00:57:14.780 --> 00:57:21.120 and this will be the same time, time 12 p.m. Hawaii, 3 p.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. Eastern. 00:57:21.120 --> 00:57:23.860 And it'll be archived if you can't make those times. 00:57:23.860 --> 00:57:26.400 And then we have a couple of weeks of breather, 00:57:26.400 --> 00:57:29.400 well actually I think we have one on May 1st that we're just putting together now, 00:57:29.400 --> 00:57:31.900 but not ready to advertise it quite yet. 00:57:31.900 --> 00:57:36.380 But we also have mid-May, we've got our Earth is Blue, 00:57:36.380 --> 00:57:40.600 so this is educational videos about your national marine sanctuaries. 00:57:40.600 --> 00:57:46.460 So we have our actual videographer, Nick Zachar, and another video tech, Shannon, 00:57:46.460 --> 00:57:50.040 who will be presenting on this absolutely fabulous, 00:57:50.040 --> 00:57:53.760 like photos of the day and Earth is Blue videos and Stories from the Blue, 00:57:53.760 --> 00:57:59.820 so great ways to bring the ocean directly into your home or your future classrooms and facilities. 00:58:01.380 --> 00:58:04.480 There is an evaluation that follows today's webinar. 00:58:04.480 --> 00:58:08.200 It's a four-question, like one to two-minute evaluation. 00:58:08.200 --> 00:58:11.680 We greatly appreciate if you guys take the time to complete that 00:58:11.680 --> 00:58:17.580 because it gives us valuable information about today's webinar and the experience. 00:58:18.240 --> 00:58:23.960 In there, is also a link to this broader, larger NOAA multimedia and distance learning survey, 00:58:23.960 --> 00:58:28.200 which is really specific to formal and informal educators. 00:58:28.200 --> 00:58:31.440 So if you're out there participating today, 00:58:31.440 --> 00:58:36.340 we'd love for you to go ahead and do the webinar evaluation, 00:58:36.340 --> 00:58:40.340 and then get the link from that to do this distance learning multimedia survey. 00:58:40.340 --> 00:58:44.120 We want to know like what kind of video products and materials 00:58:44.120 --> 00:58:48.800 will help you bring the ocean and NOAA into your facilities and classroom. 00:58:49.500 --> 00:58:53.220 So with that, we're so pleased that you were able to join us today. 00:58:53.220 --> 00:58:55.064 Thank you so much, 00:58:55.064 --> 00:58:58.500 another webinar tomorrow, maybe some of you will be participating in that as well 00:58:58.500 --> 00:59:03.260 to enhance your marine science skills and topics. 00:59:03.260 --> 00:59:05.640 So with that, it concludes today's webinar. 00:59:05.640 --> 00:59:08.080 Thank you so much.