Upon window gazing in San Francisco, this immense coral yarn sculpture reminded me of one of the most unique, and unusual TED Talks I’ve ever seen and it’s about coral yarn crochet. In this TED (Technology and Entertainment Design) talk, Margaret Wertheim shares the coral project she started with her twin sister that is all about crocheting the coral reef.

The idea of this yarn filled coral sculpture garden is inspired by endangered sea coral, the ancient art of domestic handicrafts, and the new discoveries in mathematics by Dr. Daina Taimina on the beautiful math of coral.

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 The beautiful parrotfish (family Scaridae) performs many roles in coral reef ecosystems. With their large teeth they munch algae off the coral so that it stays healthy and alive. Parrotfish are constantly eating and digesting bits of coral whole, and excreting sand that helps create beaches. Since parrotfish spend all day searching the reef for food to eat and then turning it to sand, they actually produce up to 2,200 pounds (1 metric ton) of sand per year. 

Ocean Conservancy tells us that in “reefs, parrotfish play a critical role as grazers keeping algae in check. Without grazers, algae out-compete the coral until they weaken or even die.” Actively protecting the gorgeous parrotfish from overfishing is the most important way to make sure that reefs are healthy, resilient, and bountiful. 

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The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system comprising over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching more than 3,000 kilometres (1,600 miles) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 square miles).

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Most of us are familiar with the idea of carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial development leaching into the atmosphere, causing global warming. The effect of CO2 on ocean temperatures and acidification is much less well publicised, but just as worrying. In fact, it’s a potential cause of famine.

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Near the southern end of the Okinawa chain of islands, you’ll find Japan’s largest coral reef - and it is dying. Reports shows that up to 90 percent of the coral may already be gone, so scientists are now testing “transplant” methods in the Sekisei Lagoon Reef to hopefully save the country’s other coral reefs.

From the NY Times:

“We have been replanting forests for 4,000 years, but we are only just now learning how to revive a coral reef,” said Mineo Okamoto, a marine biologist at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, who has led development of the palm-size ceramic discs. “We finally have the technology.”

With their process, divers drill holes underwater to “plant” ceramic disks, which have surfaces where new coral can take hold. Experts say the process will take decades.

Image via Flickr.

Leading experts at the 2009 Aspen Environment Forum called ocean acidification caused by high levels of CO2 emissions a “planet changer”, and predicted that all coral in the ocean would be in danger of dying off by mid-century if we continued to burn fossil fuel at our current rate.

Ken Caldeira of Carnegie Institution, Martin Hoffert of New York University, and Dawn Martin of SeaWeb told attendees at the session “The Ocean Carbon Cycle: Facing the Damage” that we haven’t taken the issue seriously enough, and expressed dismay at the lack of media coverage for such an important issue.

“People would be more upset if you told them that their favorite TV show was canceled than if you told them that entire biomes would disappear.” - Ken Caldeira, Carnegie Institution

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The geriatric discovery (Leiopathes sp.) is a deep water tree-like coral, which grows only a few micrometers every year. That’s an annual growth rate at around the size of a human blood cell. And the Leiopathes sp. wasn’t the only old creature found. Also discovered was a 2,742 year old gold coral (Gerardia sp.).

The discovery raises needed awareness about the delicate, fragile ecosystems of deep sea reefs, which are endangered due to trawling and global warming.

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Researchers in Israel have discovered that Japanese sea corals engage in sex switching. Similar to species of trees and more famously, most species of reef fish, female Japanese sea corals (scientifically known as fungiid coral) switch their sex so that the majority are male. This seems to be due to male fungiid coral’s better ability to handle the stresses brought on by resource scarcity.

Since over a quarter of the world’s coral reefs have already become damaged due to increasing sea temperatures, understanding how fungiids are able to become primarily male may provide researchers with alternative reproduction strategies. 

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The corals themselves also have commercial value (for jewelry, aquarium decoration, etc.).  Corals–symbiotic colonies of plant-like and animal-like creatures–have existed on this planet for tens of millions of years. However, some 45% of all coral species went extinct around the same time as the dinosaurs did. Hardest hit were a group of photosynthesizing, algae-harboring corals known as zooxanthellates. The symbiotic , red-brown algae that co-exist with these corals (and provide their energy source) are known as zooxanthellae.

Marine scientists have noted for several years now the spread of a coral disease known as Yellow Band Disease (YBD)–so named for the yellowish bands that spread across coral polyps–but had attributed its spread to thermal stress caused by global warming. Thermal stress is known to weaken much marine life, including corals, shellfish, and some species of zooplankton. But in November of 2008, researchers at Woodshole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, isolated the bacteria that caused YBD–actually four species of Vibrio bacteria that combine with the indigenous Vibrio bacteria to attack zooxanthellae (see the paper in the Journal of Applied Microbiology).

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The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting severe bleaching for parts of the Coral Sea, near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and the Coral Triangle, causing immense damage to an important global marine environment over the next few months.

“This forecast bleaching episode will be caused by increased water temperatures and is the kind of event we can expect on a regular basis if average global temperatures rise above 2 degrees.” - Richard Leck, Climate Change Strategy Leader for WWF’s Coral Triangle Program.

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The loss of coral reefs around the world is being blamed on the mass amounts of CO2 in our planets oceans, and the resulting acid that is keeping the reefs and other crustaceans from calcifying.

When I was a kid, my favorite television program was The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.  I knew every thing there was to know about him (or so I thought).  I even did a report, in which I stood at the front of the class, talking about his invention of the Scuba Tank. All these years later, I still remember that it is an acronym for “Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.”

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