For First Time, Scientists Capture Coral Bleaching As It Happens
- 8 years ago
Scientists from Australia’s Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane have captured coral’s bleaching process on camera, providing insights into how the loss of algae, and as a result color, occurs.
Scientists from Australia’s Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane have captured coral’s bleaching process on camera, providing insights into how the loss of algae, and as a result color, occurs.
Based on the footage, the action is both dramatic and fast.
Using a microscope, a camera and a smart tablet, video was recorded as the heat in 10 coral-containing tanks was turned up.
According to one of the researchers, after only a couple of hours, the specimens inflated, “…their bodies to as much as 340 per cent of their normal size before suddenly and violently contracting and ejecting Symbiodinium through their oral openings.”
He also noted that if the water temperature drops quickly enough, repopulation can occur, allowing the coral to continue to thrive.
Scientists from Australia’s Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane have captured coral’s bleaching process on camera, providing insights into how the loss of algae, and as a result color, occurs.
Based on the footage, the action is both dramatic and fast.
Using a microscope, a camera and a smart tablet, video was recorded as the heat in 10 coral-containing tanks was turned up.
According to one of the researchers, after only a couple of hours, the specimens inflated, “…their bodies to as much as 340 per cent of their normal size before suddenly and violently contracting and ejecting Symbiodinium through their oral openings.”
He also noted that if the water temperature drops quickly enough, repopulation can occur, allowing the coral to continue to thrive.