What is the coral reef?

Coral reefs are known to many as the pretty things in the ocean that provide homes for different species of ocean life. Or maybe you have seen them in movies like Finding Nemo. However, coral reefs are much more important than how they are perceived to the world. In addition to looking cool, coral protects animals from many instances that would otherwise be extremely fatal to them. Coral reefs protect the wildlife from storms, and even erosion. They provide food and medicine for over a half a billion people. 

What’s happening to the coral reefs?

The coral reefs are dying at rapid rates all across the world and the effects of it may be irreversible. Due to global warming, pollution, ocean acidification, and physical destruction of the ocean. If the coral reefs cannot make it past this hardship and die out, it could be detrimental to the health of the ocean. The entire ecosystem that involves the coral reef would completely parish. This can obviously be very harmful to the ocean as well as the people who rely on what the coral reefs provide.

What are scientists doing about it?

Although extremely difficult to reverse the effects that pollution has had on the ocean, scientists are doing their best to prepare for the inevitable. In the likely event that these effects are irreversible, scientists are crafting a makeshift coral reef that will hopefully replace some aspects of the coral reef. Scientists are using genetic engineering to try and come up with a way to genetically modify the coral to make them more heat tolerant. Data projected by scientists show that marine protected areas can assist in saving coral reefs if they are placed in crucial locations.