Regenerating coral from the sounds of life

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA) have found a way to help regenerate coral reefs by broadcasting recorded sounds from a healthy coral reef to attract coral larvae to settle on the degenerating reef.

Photo: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

A healthy coral reef will have lots of low-frequency sounds from the fish and shrimp that wriggle around, while a degraded reef has less active organisms and is therefore quieter, said lead author Nadege Aoki (pictured, left). Coral larvae often rely on some of the signals emitted from coral reefs to find a place to settle.

According to the experimental results, in one of the two degraded coral reefs installed with a loudspeaker system playing recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs, the rate of coral larvae settling was 1.7 times higher than average and more than 7 times higher than in the other coral reef that was not installed with loudspeakers.

The world's coral reefs support about a quarter of all marine species as well as millions of people who rely on marine ecosystems for food and income.

PEARL

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/tai-tao-san-ho-tu-am-thanh-cua-su-song-post730962.html