by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 2:45 PM ET, Mon December 4, 2017
There may be some hope for coral reefs around the planet that are being decimated by the warming temperatures associated with climate change.
Scientists recently completed a coral fertility treatment that could help regenerate coral if it proves successful.
The initial trial took place at the Great Barrier Reef, which has been repeatedly damaged during recent years by coral bleaching, a process in which warming water temperatures stress the organisms, causing them to die.
Last November, a team of scientists led by Peter Harrison from Southern Cross University took microscopic sperm and eggs during the reef's annual coral spawning event and put them into giant tanks for fertilization at the Heron Island Research Station in Australia. The coral larvae that were created were brought back to the reef and planted.
One year later, the juvenile coral has successfully established itself on the reef, a significant victory for the reef and the future of such efforts.
The project represents the first time researchers have been able to accelerate the formation of new coral colonies on small areas in the Great Barrier Reef using baby corals conceived in a lab, according to a statement from Southern Cross University.
"This pilot study carried out on Heron Island shows that our new techniques to give corals a helping hand to conceive and then settle, develop and grow in their natural environment can work on the Great Barrier Reef," Harrison said in a statement.
It was Harrison who co-discovered the phenomenon of 'sex on the Reef'-or mass coral spawning-some 30 years ago. He and his team hope this new approach to fertilizing reefs will be a huge win for environmental conservation far and wide.
The project's success shows that scientists can start to restore and repair damaged coral populations when they have been compromised.
Multiple coral reef areas around the world experienced bleaching two or even three years in a row between 2014 and 2017, from Hawaii to Bermuda and elsewhere, according to Coral Reef Watch. The most recent coral bleaching took place in June 2017, affecting more reefs (including some that had never bleached before) than any other previous event.
The pioneering pilot project at the Great Barrier Reef was made possible through a donation to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation from former Goldman Sachs chairman Stephen Fitzgerald.
"We're increasingly looking to innovations like larval 'reseeding' to help coral reefs rebuild and adapt so they can live through everything the world is throwing at them and survive into the future," Great Barrier Reef Foundation Managing Director Anna Marsden said in a statement. "It's time to be bold and take some calculated risks because that's the way we'll make a step change in how we help restore our coral reefs."
Marsden added that it's important to keep in mind that restorations options such as this new pilot program do not lessen the need for strong action to address the major drivers of reef decline: Rapid, human-induced climate change is one of the greatest threats to the long-term future of the reef, but it is also threatened by such things as poor water quality, coastal development and fishing.
The foundation is engaged in a number of initiatives to help save the reef, including a $14 million Reef Island Refuge Initiative through which precious land and sea-scapes are being protected and restored in the face of climate change.
Those who would also like to help with such efforts can make donations directly to the foundation.
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