Staghorn Coral Transplanted to Threatened Reef

Scientists and researchers at Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center and the National Coral Reef Institute will transplant 28 basketball-sized, on-land, nursery-grown staghorn coral to reefs off Florida’s Broward County coast in order to save the reef from persistant threats.  Scientists have been carefully growing staghorn coral for about 18 months now and they will continue to monitor them on a monthly basis once placed in the reef.  This operation is a first on many different levels.  Firstly, it is the first time on-land nursery grown reef has been transplanted to Broward County and secondly, this county is the furthest north reef that staghorn coral has even been translated to.  The reef off Broward County coast is at great threatening risks due to degradation from human causes such as: pollution, overfishing, climate change and development.  Reefs such as these, need to be protected as they serve protection purposes for young fish to hide from predators.  These transplanted reefs will help the reef by providing these forms of protection again and restoring genetically diverse colonies.  Researcher David Gilliam Ph.D. states, “It’s vital to have both on-land and in-water nurseries to help better understand how to restore coral reefs.”  NSU’s land-based coral nursery will be soon opening an 86,000- square-foot, $40-million center for coral reef science research, making it the largest in the country. 

Several topics we are learning in class relate to topics found in this article.  Firstly, this article demonstrates the relationship between organisms and their environment, the basis of ecology.  Furthermore, the overwhelming human actions effect today’s ecological system are demonstrated through the depletion of coral reefs in this article.  Additionally, this specific coral reef’s food web is affected from the lack of staghorn coral that would otherwise protect and hide younger fish of lower trophic levels.  Lastly, the need for genetic variation, that lack in the Broward county coast reefs, relates to what we have discussed in class. 

In my opinion I find the steps NSU has taken and will take in the future to protect Florida’s reef to be extremely commendable however, I can’t help but pay attention to why they need to be protected.  In addition to replenishing what human activity has depleted in coral reefs, we need to stop the problem from continuing.  In order to fix the problem we include the source of the threat to coral reefs,  which is most directly, the human impact on ecological systems. 

 Source:

Nova Southeastern University. "Staghorn coral transplanted to threatened reef." ScienceDaily, 17 Feb. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.