Coral Spawning, a simple, natural process, but with human environmental factors, everything can get thrown off. First off, what is coral spawning? Coral spawning is when corals release egg and sperm cells to the surface of the ocean to make new corals. These new corals will spread, creating new coral habitats that will increase biodiversity, supply food for countless species, and bring many wonderful colors to the ocean. However, coral spawning only occurs with a specific ocean temperature and a specific moon cycle, so human factors that cause climate change also affect coral spawning.
SeaSim, a research aquarium, has recorded that 250 coral colonies from more than 25 different species successfully spawn into 15 million larvae per year. That’s crazy! These larvae travel all around the world and create new coral beds everywhere.
However, there is currently a problem with coral spawning that is affecting marine environments everywhere. What is it?
All different coral species have different environmental factors and times that they bloom. If one factor is off, it can throw off many coral-producing spawnings. A study by Professor Yossi Loya of Tel Aviv in Israel and Ph.D. candidate Tom Schlesinger found out that rising sea levels might be the culprit to uneven coral spawning. Rising sea levels are due to rising climate change, which humans are at fault for. Another reason why coral spawning rates are decreasing is because of endocrine-disrupting pollutants in the ocean. Endocrine-disrupting pollutants are in many plastics and trash that are thrown into the ocean by humans, which is yet another action that humans have harmed the ocean with.
Consistency is key during coral spawning, so if one factor is off, the whole process can end badly. Scientists are worried that unsynchronized coral spawning can lead to a decrease in all coral beds, which helps bring life to the ocean.
How do we help maintain even coral spawning?
To help the environment and the ocean, it all comes down to one simple thing: Reduce your trash. About roughly 14 billion pounds of trash gets thrown into the ocean each year. Just a little bit of regulation -- such as reducing trash waste by 1-2 pounds -- can make a big impact.
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