Combat Veterans, Scientists, Gamers work to save coral reefs dying

With rising temperatures and ocean acidity, many of the world's coral reefs are disappearing. From combat veterans to scientists to video players, many are looking for innovative ways to build stronger reefs.

For years, the world's coral reefs, home to a quarter of marine species, have been declining. temperatures. Since the 1980s, about half of the ocean's coral has disappeared, and that only worsens. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reported significant bleaching events for the last three years .

Science, technology and the courage and determination of combat veterans are deployed to fight back. One Team, one fight

Enter FORCE BLUE, a non-profit organization that provides "mission therapy" to Special Operations Veterans and Veterans (SOF) – individuals in which governments around the world have invested millions Underwater and marine operators – by recycling, re-equipping and deploying them on conservation, preservation and restoration missions. Force Blue Mission: "Join the Special Operations Veterans community in the world of marine conservation. 19659008] Force Blue began with US Navy Sergeant RECON Rudy Reyes, a combat diver who experienced a catharsis on his first dive trip to the Cayman Islands with friends (and co-founders) Jim Ritterhoff and Keith Sahm, qualified reef divers. For Reyes, who had struggled with PTS and depression since returning from several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, "the experience was nothing short of a life change." L & # 39; The story of Force Blue would emerge as a program bringing together combat divers from all branches. , working with marine scientists, environmental advocates and journalists to help the marine environment, which includes tackling the problem of coral reefs disappearing in the world

"This is a Warrior / Samaritan mission – Co-Founder of FORCE BLUE, Recon Marine Veteran, @realRudyReyes

Visit https://t.co/2HzZowxnyl and BE FORCE MULTIPLIER Help us Help Veterinarians Help the Planet. pic.twitter.com/IxWFaHm2t9

– BLUE FORCE (@forceblueteam) June 25, 2018

Blue Force's "A team. A fighting attitude included his first project in April 2017 to rebuild and rehabilitate the reefs in the Cayman Islands.

According to Mission Blue, the team followed 130 hours of classroom training and learned how to preserve coral reefs, while working with the Cayman Coral Reef Recovery Program, to plant viable coral fragments on damaged coral reefs.

The American veterans @forceblueteam find a new mission to restore the caiques ! https://t.co/B9INV241Ua @ ecochic4life #opeanoptimism pic.twitter.com/gNjcUjytTD

– Blue Mission (@MissionBlue) June 22, 2017 [19659012] In June With the help of the non-profit conservation organization SECORE International (SEXual COral REproduction), the team learned about the ins and outs of sexual coral breeding.

Aroused. Learn all the ins and outs of sexual coral reproduction with our friends @SECORE_coral . BE A FORCE MULTIPLIER! Sponsor a Special Veterinarian Ops @ https://t.co/2HzZowOYpT pic.twitter.com/Vo5krVIqQT

– BLUE FORCE (@forceblueteam) June 15, 2018

[ReadmeforegetmoreontheproductionofSoralcorals

The Force Blue's "Mission Therapy" states that "it's back to the time of Jacques Cousteau and the French frogmen-frog that he has trained … to create a modern veteran elite combat cadre." having the ability and the ability to achieve great things on the conservation front. "

The real real world meets science at Force Blue to rebuild and rehabilitate coral reefs. But how can the famous "couch potato" help?

Gamers Build Reefs

A unique initiative allowed video players to participate in the coral reef safeguard mission. The Coral Crafters project, a partnership between the creators of Minecraft and the McCann advertising agency, features some of Minecraft's "most influential players" in an underwater sculpture design contest . The winning sculptures are built and then anchored at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico, a region suffering from coral depletion. The structures are specially designed to facilitate coral growth with the help of bitrock (known as "seament").

McCann and Minecraft also partnered with The Nature Conservancy, a non-profit organization that grows and plants coral in the Caribbean. Whenever a player builds coral or buys a customized package from the organization in the game, it triggers automatic donations of Minecraft and Microsoft to the charity.

The winning player must bring his fully built sculpture to the bottom of the ocean

Worth a look watch the full video.

Science!

In December, the Australian Ministry of the Environment granted a 1.7m fund to install large solar-powered turbines to draw cold water from the depths and redirect it to the reefs. However, the Ministry of the Environment was careful to point out that the technology would not be enough to save the reefs, and scientists noted that the cooler water would absorb more carbon and become more acidic than the water. Warmer water. replace.

Some researchers try to modify the coral instead of the water that surrounds it. The Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology has selectively replicated coral and has been able to make it more heat resistant.

"We can train coral to be better, but we have to do it now, and we need to be very proactive," said Ruth Gates, Ph.D., project director .

Their method consists of exposing the coral to high temperatures and then raising the survivors.This is not just a form of accelerated natural selection, corals have been exposed to high temperatures have proven to be more resilient to future heatwaves, and researchers hope that descendants will accumulate the rustic qualities of their parents.

Another technique pursued by the Australian Institute of Ocean Sciences pushes the coral to intersect. The result was not uniformly resilient, but some of his research was successful .

A difficulty in the search for coral is the scarcity of spawning the period in which they release both eggs and spermatozoa. Coral can spawn as little as once a year, giving researchers a very narrow window. The Florida Aquarium of Tampa Bay experiments by directing the coral reproductive cycle by using staggered lighting and temperature models to deceive the coral by making more attempts at reproduction. In addition to creating research opportunities, the aquaculture allows the aquarium to rebuild Florida's coastal reefs by directly transplanting the corals that they have managed to cultivate.

Another approach is to target the algae that cover the coral. When algae are disturbed by high temperatures, microorganisms release oxidants that are toxic to coral. The coral reacts defensively and expels the algae from their surfaces. This is the whitening process, and the white appearance of the coral is due to the lack of algae. Corals usually depend on seaweed for food, and without them the coral dies of hunger.

The Australian Institute of Ocean Sciences attempts to selectively raise such algae, using the same technique of subjecting algae to heat and higher levels of acidification, and by raising the survivors. The institute succeeded, but noticed that the algae lost their durability acquired during the colonization of the coral.

Despite this obstacle, researchers at the University of Miami noticed that the coral had been bleached. tend to favor more resistant algae.

Some research labs have begun making significant advances in the engineering of coral DNA to have higher heat thresholds. Dr. Christian R. Voolstra of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and his team took advantage of advances in the science of DNA to insert genetic material into coral Acropora millepora . Dr. Voolstra predicted that the ability to alter coral genomes to be more heat resistant is about five years old.

More recently, studies have increased on some strains of natural corals that thrive in the Middle East. East and are more resistant to heat. Corals in the Gulf of Aqaba, a narrow waterway at the northernmost end of the Red Sea, bordered by Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the & aba aba aba. Saudi Arabia, have shown incredible resistance to warmer ocean temperatures. Efforts are being made to breed similar corals

Parallel to this new progress, however, come the questions of the ethics of human modification in nature, and how the new technology could distract us from the project to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Still, the hope that DNA engineering provides is that the coral of the oceans can still be saved despite the irrevocable heat changes that have already occurred.

LIMA CHARLIE NEWS

Charlie Lima provides world news, with insight and analysis by military veterans and service members worldwide .

For up-to-date news, please follow us on twitter at @LimaCharlieNews [19659008]