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"LarvalBot" from the Queensland University of Technology will help restore the damaged reefs of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The submarine drone will deliver baby corals in damaged areas. ( Queensland University of Technology )
The Queensland University of Technology has developed "LarvalBot", an underwater drone that could be the key to saving the world's coral reefs.
Conservation of coral reefs
The negative effects of global warming are already largely felt by creatures that thrive in the world's oceans. In the past two years, coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, have undergone massive coral bleaching caused by unusually warm water.
Scientists fear repeated coral bleaching episodes will kill corals that have been growing for years. LarvalBot will help keep these corals.
The process begins with scientists collecting coral pellets in which hundreds of millions of sperm and eggs are released into the water. The eggs are then reared in small coral larvae in controlled floating pens on the reef. Once developed, LarvalBot will deliver tiny baby coral larvae on damaged reefs.
"We concentrate the larvae and put some in LarvalBot to gently eject the larvae from dead reef areas, allowing them to settle and transform into coral polyps or coral babies, "said Matthew Dunbabin of the Institute for Future Environments.
Scientists plan to use LarvalBot on damaged parts of the Great Barrier Reef. Later this month, the world's largest system of coral reefs will reoccur and scientists believe the drone will help accelerate the recovery of affected ecosystems.
If successful, the surviving corals will grow and form new colonies. In about three years, the new corals will be able to reproduce themselves.
Scientists estimate that with the help of LarvalBot, the new technique is up to 100 times superior to the previous methods. Their goal is to use three to four drones this month, each carrying about 200,000 coral larvae.
"This could revolutionize coral reef restoration around the world," added Harrison.
Save the Great Barrier Reef
In April of this year, a report published in the scientific journal Nature reported that Corals of the Great Barrier Reef experienced a massive mortality after a marine heat wave that occurred in 2016. On the entire reef, Terry Hughes of the Arc Center of Excellence for studies on the Coral reefs revealed that the natural wonder of the world has lost 30% of its corals between March 2016 and November 2016.
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