̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - coral

̽��ֱ��coral whisperer

lkm37 — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 09:41:11 +0000

Duygu Sevilgen has built a coral lab in the basement of an old Zoology building. Here, 10 experimental tanks host multicoloured miniature forests, with each tank representing a different marine environment. Duygu uses extremely small sensors to record the fine details of coral skeletons and listen to their dialogue with algae. In doing so, she determines how much change corals can bear, and improves our chances of saving them in the wild.

Buying time: can science save the Great Barrier Reef?

sc604 — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 04:18:14 +0000

If we don’t stop global temperatures – both on land and at sea – from rising, the Great Barrier Reef could become a coral graveyard. A team of scientists has decided to do something about it.

3D printed corals could improve bioenergy and help coral reefs

sc604 — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Researchers from Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� and ̽��ֱ�� of California San Diego have 3D printed coral-inspired structures that are capable of growing dense populations of microscopic algae. Their results, reported in the journal Nature Communications, open the door to new bio-inspired materials and their applications for coral conservation.

In the ocean, corals and algae have an intricate symbiotic relationship. ̽��ֱ��coral provides a host for the algae, while the algae produce sugars to the coral through photosynthesis. This relationship is responsible for one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth, the coral reef.

"Corals are highly efficient at collecting and using light," said first author Dr Daniel Wangpraseurt, a Marie Curie Fellow from Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry. "In our lab, we’re looking for methods to copy and mimic these strategies from nature for commercial applications."

Wangpraseurt and his colleagues 3D printed coral structures and used them as incubators for algae growth. They tested various types of microalgae and found growth rates were 100x higher than in standard liquid growth mediums.

To create the intricate structures of natural corals, the researchers used a rapid 3D bioprinting technique capable of reproducing detailed structures that mimic the complex designs and functions of living tissues. This method can print structures with micrometer-scale resolution in just minutes.

This is critical for replicating structures with live cells, said co-senior author Professor Shaochen Chen, from UC San Diego. "Most of these cells will die if we were to use traditional extrusion-based or inkjet processes because these methods take hours. It would be like keeping a fish out of the water; the cells that we work with won’t survive if kept too long out of their culture media. Our process is high throughput and offers really fast printing speeds, so it’s compatible with human cells, animal cells, and even algae cells in this case," he said.

̽��ֱ��coral-inspired structures were highly efficient at redistributing light, just like natural corals. Only biocompatible materials were used to fabricate the 3D printed bionic corals.

"We developed an artificial coral tissue and skeleton with a combination of polymer gels and hydrogels doped with cellulose nanomaterials to mimic the optical properties of living corals," said co-senior author Dr Silvia Vignolini, also from Cambridge's Department of Chemistry. "Cellulose is an abundant biopolymer; it is excellent at scattering light and we used it to optimise delivery of light into photosynthetic algae."

̽��ֱ��team used an optical analogue to ultrasound, called optical coherence tomography, to scan living corals and utilise the models for their 3D printed designs. ̽��ֱ��custom-made 3D bioprinter uses light to print coral micro-scale structures in seconds. ̽��ֱ��printed coral copies natural coral structures and light-harvesting properties, creating an artificial host-microenvironment for the living microalgae.

"By copying the host microhabitat, we can also use our 3D bioprinted corals as a model system for the coral-algal symbiosis, which is urgently needed to understand the breakdown of the symbiosis during coral reef decline," said Wangpraseurt. "There are many different applications for our new technology. We have recently created a company, called mantaz, that uses coral-inspired light-harvesting approaches to cultivate algae for bioproducts in developing countries. We hope that our technique will be scalable so it can have a real impact on the algal biosector and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for coral reef death."

This study was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, the European Research Council, the David Phillips Fellowship, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Carlsberg Foundation and the Villum Foundation.

Reference:
Daniel Wangpraseurt et al. ‘Bionic 3D printed corals.’ Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15486-4

Researchers have designed bionic 3D-printed corals that could help energy production and coral reef research.

We hope that our technique will be scalable so it can ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for coral reef death

Daniel Wangpraseurt

Scanning electron microscope image of the microalgal colonies in the hybrid living biopolymers

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Researchers appeal for new regulations to save coral reefs from live fish trade

bjb42 — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Twenty of the world's leading marine scientists, including a team from the Department of Zoology, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, have called for action by governments to halt the unsustainable plunder of the world's ocean resources.

For decades tropical coral reefs have battled for survival against a complex array of threats including pollution, coral bleaching triggered by rising sea temperatures and over-fishing.

In particular, the health of the reefs is being compromised by the live reef fish trade, a serious threat that has prompted scientists to call for tighter regulations on the exploitation of reef resources which are particularly important to developing tropical nations.

̽��ֱ��scientists say there is now sufficient evidence to conclude that reforming markets, which have dramatically expanded as a result of global trade liberalization, is an important strategy for controlling roving bandits.

̽��ֱ��live fish trade is an increasing pressure on coral reef resources, both in terms of magnitude and geographical spread. ̽��ֱ��combination of destructive harvesting methods and over-harvesting of large, predatory fish reef fish have devastating effects.

Being able to choose a huge fish to eat from a tank is a big pull in luxury seafood restaurants. Fish such as the Napoleon wrasse, a giant reef fish that commonly reaches 2 m in length and lives for more than 30 years, are top of the menu and especially vulnerable.

But once on the plate, the absence of an important part of the food chain means the coral reef hierarchy is in turmoil. ̽��ֱ��coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish is likely to thrive in these situations, particularly when the corals are already stressed by a multitude of other impacts including global warming.

According to the 2004 Status of the Coral Reefs of the World report, coral reefs are in serious decline due largely to human activities; an estimated 20% of the world's reefs have been effectively destroyed with no immediate prospects of recovery, 24% are under imminent risk of collapse and 26% are under longer term threat of collapse.

̽��ֱ��scientists argue in their letters that multilevel action, from local to international, is needed to establish institutions that are able to learn from experiences with roving bandits, develop decision-making skills in an environment of uncertainty and complexity, and respond quickly to shifts in demand from global markets.

"Due to the high international demand for live fish, these roving bandits deplete coral reef stocks before local institutions have time to implement laws to regulate the poaching."

" ̽��ֱ��bandits take advantage of porous world trade policy and ineffective fisheries management to sell their plunder," says Dr Helen Scales, from the Department of Zoology, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

By analysing the mass of live fish imported into Hong Kong from various source nations across the Indo-Pacific region, Dr. Andrea Manica and his team from the Department of Zoology, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge have tracked the fisheries trade radiating out from Hong Kong, the hub for international trade in live reef fish.

They have also demonstrated the accelerating pace of the boom and bust pattern of exploitation, a characteristic dynamic of unregulated high-value commodity markets.

̽��ֱ��trade has spread from Hong Kong at an accelerating pace, starting at 100 km per year from its coast in the 1970s, to reach over 400 km per year in the 1990s.

However, the scientists say the strongest argument for balancing international trade and local needs is the social inequity that arises from the export of the dwindling coral reef resources of developing tropical nations.

"Once those resources are destroyed and forgotten, it is the local people who bear the costs of reduced options for future development," they warn.

̽��ֱ��letters will be published in Science on Friday the 4th August.

Researchers are calling for tighter controls on the live reef fish trade, a growing threat to coral reefs, in letters to the international journal Science.

̽��ֱ��bandits take advantage of porous world trade policy and ineffective fisheries management to sell their plunder.

Dr Helen Scales

USFWS Pacific from Flickr

Coral Reef at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge

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