\"This generation holds the Great Barrier Reef’s future in its hands. The actions they take now will determine whether it thrives or collapses.\"
\n\"Insufficient global action on climate change is taking a serious toll on the health of our Great Barrier Reef and coral reefs around the world.\"
\n\"The facts are clear – coral reefs and their communities are on the front line. We know current climate change commitments don’t go far enough to protect them and we know this is the critical decade in which to act with urgency. \"
\n\"We must also build the resilience of Reef ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is doing this by rapidly developing and scaling up interventions that buy time for coral reefs and help them adapt to the warmer temperatures already caused by climate change.\"
\n\"Reef Recovery 2030 is the Foundation ambitious 10-year collective effort to save the Great Barrier Reef and support global coral reef conservation.\"
\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/this-is-the-critical-decade-for-coral-reef-survival
\n\"Coral spawning is an annual event where corals simultaneously reproduce. During this synchronised breeding, coral polyps release millions of tiny egg and sperm bundles into the water.
\nEach bundle must find another bundle from the same species to fertilise. By spawning on mass, corals increase the likelihood of finding and fertilising a matching bundle.\"
\"When does coral spawn? This depends on a number of factors including their location, the water temperature and tides. On the Great Barrier Reef, inshore reefs typically spawn in October, while outer reefs spawn during November or December. \"
\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-coral-spawning-great-barrier-reef
\n\"Photogrammetry is a cutting-edge technique to measure things from photographs, by converting them into accurate three-dimensional reconstructions of objects and environments.\"
\n\"On the Great Barrier Reef, we’re using photogrammetry (photo = image, grammetry = measure) to measure the growth, recovery and survival of corals over time, providing vital data that helps scientists decide where to focus restoration efforts.\"
\n\"Researchers use rigs called mapping platforms with multiple cameras to take overlapping photos of Reef landscapes. They upload the images to a specialised software program that converts them into 3D maps.\"
\n\"It’s an invaluable tool to better understand how individual corals and coral reefs are being impacted by climate change and other local threats, as well as their ability to naturally recover from these disturbances.\"
\n\"Restoration is a critical part of protecting our Reef for future generations. But deciding when and where restoration work will be most impactful can be tricky – especially given researchers are working in an underwater ecosystem the size of Italy.\"
\n\"By providing fast, detailed and highly accurate biological data, photogrammetry helps with restoration decisions such as whether researchers should outplant corals on the east or west side or a reef, at five or 15 metres’ depth, or on a flat or wrinkled surface.\"
\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-photogrammetry-great-barrier-reef
\n\"Coral aquaculture is the process of raising large numbers of healthy corals in a specialised aquarium by replicating natural coral reproduction and growth.\"
\n\"Once a year, wild corals reproduce en masse. Corals send enormous quantities of eggs and sperm into the water column, where the eggs are fertilised, turn into larvae and settle onto the seafloor.\"
\n\"Aquaculture helps Reef researchers reduce their reliance on ‘one-night-only’ wild spawning events, as well as the time spent underwater observing and monitoring corals. By propagating corals in aquaculture, they can control conditions and thereby fast-track our understanding of factors that impact coral survival and growth, and how to help corals better cope with increased seawater temperatures.\"
\n\"Researchers use larval and juvenile corals in experiments to improve our understanding of how to increase their temperature tolerance, the influence of special probiotic diets and which conditions encourage coral larvae to settle and grow on the Reef. Scientists are also experimenting with ways to increase the number of heat-tolerant corals on the Reef, by first settling them onto devices designed to enhance their survival and growth in the wild, then transporting them onto the Reef.\"
\n\"Coral aquaculture has the capacity to help with this by increasing the numbers of healthy, heat-tolerant corals on the Reef, but it’s still in the early stages of development. \"
\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-coral-aquaculture-great-barrier-reef
\n\"Climate change is the greatest threat facing the reef and a challenge we must all tackle together.
\nThe growing combination of rising water temperatures, poorer water quality from sediment run-off and pollution, as well as more severe cyclones and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, are just some of the threats creating a perfect storm for our reef and the iconic animals that depend on it.\"
https://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/threats/
\n\"Since 1962, crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks have had a major impact on the many reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef. A fourth outbreak is currently underway in the World-Heritage Area.\"
\n\"Crown-of-thorns starfish (also known as COTS) are marine invertebrates that feed on coral. They occur naturally on reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and when conditions are right, they can reach plague proportions and devastate hard coral communities.\"
\n\"AIMS's research has revealed crown-of-thorns starfish are a major cause of coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef, after coral bleaching.\"
\n\"The surveys also show that healthy reefs generally recover between outbreaks, taking 10 to 20 years to do so. However, recovery takes longer on reefs that are affected by additional stresses, such as coral bleaching, cyclones or poor water quality, so the coral may not fully recover before the next wave of outbreaks occurs.\"
\n\"Laboratory research at AIMS has shown that survival of crown-of-thorns starfish larvae increases dramatically when phytoplankton, their food source, becomes more abundant. Phytoplankton numbers are usually low in reef waters, but production can increase rapidly if early-season monsoonal and cyclonic floods carry fertilisers and other pollutants into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.\"
\n\"Once dense breeding populations of starfish develop on some reefs, the huge numbers of larvae that they produce can establish outbreaks on mid-shelf reefs in the central Reef, even though these reefs are hardly ever affected by runoff.\"
\nhttps://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/biodiversity-ecology/threats/cots.html
\n\"COTS prey on nearly all corals and can eat their way through 10 square metres of it a year.\"
\n\"COTS are the world’s second largest starfish, reaching up to 1m. COTS eat by extruding their stomachs out from their bodies, wrapping it around corals and digesting their tissues.\"
\n\"An adult crown-of-thorns starfish can live up to nine months without eating. During an outbreak, which is when 15 or more COTS are found in a one hectare area, the starfish can strip a reef of 90% of its living coral tissue.\"
\n\"Factors that influence COTS outbreaks include excess nutrients from run-off in the ocean and overfishing or removal of their natural predators.\"
\nhttps://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/biodiversity-ecology/threats/cots.html
", "messages": [ { "id": "1592213", "postDate": "11/23/2021 01:24:25", "content": "\"This generation holds the Great Barrier Reef’s future in its hands. The actions they take now will determine whether it thrives or collapses.\"
\n\"Insufficient global action on climate change is taking a serious toll on the health of our Great Barrier Reef and coral reefs around the world.\"
\n\"The facts are clear – coral reefs and their communities are on the front line. We know current climate change commitments don’t go far enough to protect them and we know this is the critical decade in which to act with urgency. \"
\n\"We must also build the resilience of Reef ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is doing this by rapidly developing and scaling up interventions that buy time for coral reefs and help them adapt to the warmer temperatures already caused by climate change.\"
\n\"Reef Recovery 2030 is the Foundation ambitious 10-year collective effort to save the Great Barrier Reef and support global coral reef conservation.\"
\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/this-is-the-critical-decade-for-coral-reef-survival
\n\"Coral spawning is an annual event where corals simultaneously reproduce. During this synchronised breeding, coral polyps release millions of tiny egg and sperm bundles into the water.
\nEach bundle must find another bundle from the same species to fertilise. By spawning on mass, corals increase the likelihood of finding and fertilising a matching bundle.\"
\"When does coral spawn? This depends on a number of factors including their location, the water temperature and tides. On the Great Barrier Reef, inshore reefs typically spawn in October, while outer reefs spawn during November or December. \"
\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-coral-spawning-great-barrier-reef
\n\"Photogrammetry is a cutting-edge technique to measure things from photographs, by converting them into accurate three-dimensional reconstructions of objects and environments.\"
\n\"On the Great Barrier Reef, we’re using photogrammetry (photo = image, grammetry = measure) to measure the growth, recovery and survival of corals over time, providing vital data that helps scientists decide where to focus restoration efforts.\"
\n\"Researchers use rigs called mapping platforms with multiple cameras to take overlapping photos of Reef landscapes. They upload the images to a specialised software program that converts them into 3D maps.\"
\n\"It’s an invaluable tool to better understand how individual corals and coral reefs are being impacted by climate change and other local threats, as well as their ability to naturally recover from these disturbances.\"
\n\"Restoration is a critical part of protecting our Reef for future generations. But deciding when and where restoration work will be most impactful can be tricky – especially given researchers are working in an underwater ecosystem the size of Italy.\"
\n\"By providing fast, detailed and highly accurate biological data, photogrammetry helps with restoration decisions such as whether researchers should outplant corals on the east or west side or a reef, at five or 15 metres’ depth, or on a flat or wrinkled surface.\"
\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-photogrammetry-great-barrier-reef
\n\"Coral aquaculture is the process of raising large numbers of healthy corals in a specialised aquarium by replicating natural coral reproduction and growth.\"
\n\"Once a year, wild corals reproduce en masse. Corals send enormous quantities of eggs and sperm into the water column, where the eggs are fertilised, turn into larvae and settle onto the seafloor.\"
\n\"Aquaculture helps Reef researchers reduce their reliance on ‘one-night-only’ wild spawning events, as well as the time spent underwater observing and monitoring corals. By propagating corals in aquaculture, they can control conditions and thereby fast-track our understanding of factors that impact coral survival and growth, and how to help corals better cope with increased seawater temperatures.\"
\n\"Researchers use larval and juvenile corals in experiments to improve our understanding of how to increase their temperature tolerance, the influence of special probiotic diets and which conditions encourage coral larvae to settle and grow on the Reef. Scientists are also experimenting with ways to increase the number of heat-tolerant corals on the Reef, by first settling them onto devices designed to enhance their survival and growth in the wild, then transporting them onto the Reef.\"
\n\"Coral aquaculture has the capacity to help with this by increasing the numbers of healthy, heat-tolerant corals on the Reef, but it’s still in the early stages of development. \"
\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-coral-aquaculture-great-barrier-reef
\n\"Climate change is the greatest threat facing the reef and a challenge we must all tackle together.
\nThe growing combination of rising water temperatures, poorer water quality from sediment run-off and pollution, as well as more severe cyclones and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, are just some of the threats creating a perfect storm for our reef and the iconic animals that depend on it.\"
https://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/threats/
\n\"Since 1962, crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks have had a major impact on the many reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef. A fourth outbreak is currently underway in the World-Heritage Area.\"
\n\"Crown-of-thorns starfish (also known as COTS) are marine invertebrates that feed on coral. They occur naturally on reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and when conditions are right, they can reach plague proportions and devastate hard coral communities.\"
\n\"AIMS's research has revealed crown-of-thorns starfish are a major cause of coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef, after coral bleaching.\"
\n\"The surveys also show that healthy reefs generally recover between outbreaks, taking 10 to 20 years to do so. However, recovery takes longer on reefs that are affected by additional stresses, such as coral bleaching, cyclones or poor water quality, so the coral may not fully recover before the next wave of outbreaks occurs.\"
\n\"Laboratory research at AIMS has shown that survival of crown-of-thorns starfish larvae increases dramatically when phytoplankton, their food source, becomes more abundant. Phytoplankton numbers are usually low in reef waters, but production can increase rapidly if early-season monsoonal and cyclonic floods carry fertilisers and other pollutants into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.\"
\n\"Once dense breeding populations of starfish develop on some reefs, the huge numbers of larvae that they produce can establish outbreaks on mid-shelf reefs in the central Reef, even though these reefs are hardly ever affected by runoff.\"
\nhttps://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/biodiversity-ecology/threats/cots.html
\n\"COTS prey on nearly all corals and can eat their way through 10 square metres of it a year.\"
\n\"COTS are the world’s second largest starfish, reaching up to 1m. COTS eat by extruding their stomachs out from their bodies, wrapping it around corals and digesting their tissues.\"
\n\"An adult crown-of-thorns starfish can live up to nine months without eating. During an outbreak, which is when 15 or more COTS are found in a one hectare area, the starfish can strip a reef of 90% of its living coral tissue.\"
\n\"Factors that influence COTS outbreaks include excess nutrients from run-off in the ocean and overfishing or removal of their natural predators.\"
\nhttps://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/biodiversity-ecology/threats/cots.html
", "rawMarkdown": "#The critical decade for coral reef survival\n\n\"This generation holds the Great Barrier Reef’s future in its hands. The actions they take now will determine whether it thrives or collapses.\"\n\n\"Insufficient global action on climate change is taking a serious toll on the health of our Great Barrier Reef and coral reefs around the world.\"\n\n\"The facts are clear – coral reefs and their communities are on the front line. We know current climate change commitments don’t go far enough to protect them and we know this is the critical decade in which to act with urgency. \"\n\n#Helping coral reefs adapt\n\n\"We must also build the resilience of Reef ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is doing this by rapidly developing and scaling up interventions that buy time for coral reefs and help them adapt to the warmer temperatures already caused by climate change.\" \n\n\"Reef Recovery 2030 is the Foundation ambitious 10-year collective effort to save the Great Barrier Reef and support global coral reef conservation.\" \n\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/this-is-the-critical-decade-for-coral-reef-survival\n\n#Coral spawning\n\n\"Coral spawning is an annual event where corals simultaneously reproduce. During this synchronised breeding, coral polyps release millions of tiny egg and sperm bundles into the water. \nEach bundle must find another bundle from the same species to fertilise. By spawning on mass, corals increase the likelihood of finding and fertilising a matching bundle.\"\n\n\"When does coral spawn? This depends on a number of factors including their location, the water temperature and tides. On the Great Barrier Reef, inshore reefs typically spawn in October, while outer reefs spawn during November or December. \"\n\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-coral-spawning-great-barrier-reef\n\n#Photogrammetry on the Great Barrier Reef\n\n\"Photogrammetry is a cutting-edge technique to measure things from photographs, by converting them into accurate three-dimensional reconstructions of objects and environments.\"\n\n\"On the Great Barrier Reef, we’re using photogrammetry (photo = image, grammetry = measure) to measure the growth, recovery and survival of corals over time, providing vital data that helps scientists decide where to focus restoration efforts.\"\n\n\"Researchers use rigs called mapping platforms with multiple cameras to take overlapping photos of Reef landscapes. They upload the images to a specialised software program that converts them into 3D maps.\"\n\n\"It’s an invaluable tool to better understand how individual corals and coral reefs are being impacted by climate change and other local threats, as well as their ability to naturally recover from these disturbances.\"\n\n#Restoration a Critical Part of Protection\n\n\"Restoration is a critical part of protecting our Reef for future generations. But deciding when and where restoration work will be most impactful can be tricky – especially given researchers are working in an underwater ecosystem the size of Italy.\"\n\n\"By providing fast, detailed and highly accurate biological data, photogrammetry helps with restoration decisions such as whether researchers should outplant corals on the east or west side or a reef, at five or 15 metres’ depth, or on a flat or wrinkled surface.\"\n\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-photogrammetry-great-barrier-reef\n\n#Coral Aquaculture\n\n\"Coral aquaculture is the process of raising large numbers of healthy corals in a specialised aquarium by replicating natural coral reproduction and growth.\"\n\n\"Once a year, wild corals reproduce en masse. Corals send enormous quantities of eggs and sperm into the water column, where the eggs are fertilised, turn into larvae and settle onto the seafloor.\"\n\n#Coral Aquaculture on the Reef\n\n\"Aquaculture helps Reef researchers reduce their reliance on ‘one-night-only’ wild spawning events, as well as the time spent underwater observing and monitoring corals. By propagating corals in aquaculture, they can control conditions and thereby fast-track our understanding of factors that impact coral survival and growth, and how to help corals better cope with increased seawater temperatures.\"\n\n\"Researchers use larval and juvenile corals in experiments to improve our understanding of how to increase their temperature tolerance, the influence of special probiotic diets and which conditions encourage coral larvae to settle and grow on the Reef. Scientists are also experimenting with ways to increase the number of heat-tolerant corals on the Reef, by first settling them onto devices designed to enhance their survival and growth in the wild, then transporting them onto the Reef.\"\n\n\"Coral aquaculture has the capacity to help with this by increasing the numbers of healthy, heat-tolerant corals on the Reef, but it’s still in the early stages of development. \"\n\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-coral-aquaculture-great-barrier-reef\n\n#The Reef Threats\n\n\"Climate change is the greatest threat facing the reef and a challenge we must all tackle together. \nThe growing combination of rising water temperatures, poorer water quality from sediment run-off and pollution, as well as more severe cyclones and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, are just some of the threats creating a perfect storm for our reef and the iconic animals that depend on it.\"\n\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/threats/\n\n#Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) outbreaks\n\n\"Since 1962, crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks have had a major impact on the many reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef. A fourth outbreak is currently underway in the World-Heritage Area.\"\n\n\"Crown-of-thorns starfish (also known as COTS) are marine invertebrates that feed on coral. They occur naturally on reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and when conditions are right, they can reach plague proportions and devastate hard coral communities.\"\n\n\"AIMS's research has revealed crown-of-thorns starfish are a major cause of coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef, after coral bleaching.\"\n\n\"The surveys also show that healthy reefs generally recover between outbreaks, taking 10 to 20 years to do so. However, recovery takes longer on reefs that are affected by additional stresses, such as coral bleaching, cyclones or poor water quality, so the coral may not fully recover before the next wave of outbreaks occurs.\"\n\n\"Laboratory research at AIMS has shown that survival of crown-of-thorns starfish larvae increases dramatically when phytoplankton, their food source, becomes more abundant. Phytoplankton numbers are usually low in reef waters, but production can increase rapidly if early-season monsoonal and cyclonic floods carry fertilisers and other pollutants into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.\"\n\n\"Once dense breeding populations of starfish develop on some reefs, the huge numbers of larvae that they produce can establish outbreaks on mid-shelf reefs in the central Reef, even though these reefs are hardly ever affected by runoff.\"\n\nhttps://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/biodiversity-ecology/threats/cots.html\n\n#COTS facts\n\n\"COTS prey on nearly all corals and can eat their way through 10 square metres of it a year.\"\n\n\"COTS are the world’s second largest starfish, reaching up to 1m. COTS eat by extruding their stomachs out from their bodies, wrapping it around corals and digesting their tissues.\"\n\n\"An adult crown-of-thorns starfish can live up to nine months without eating. During an outbreak, which is when 15 or more COTS are found in a one hectare area, the starfish can strip a reef of 90% of its living coral tissue.\"\n\n\"Factors that influence COTS outbreaks include excess nutrients from run-off in the ocean and overfishing or removal of their natural predators.\"\n\nhttps://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/biodiversity-ecology/threats/cots.html", "votes": null }, { "id": "1593689", "postDate": "11/24/2021 07:01:46", "content": "Good information bro
", "rawMarkdown": "Good information bro", "votes": null }, { "id": "1593985", "postDate": "11/24/2021 12:54:25", "content": "Awesome information @mpwolke thanks for sharing, just curious what do we do with COTS once we identify them? Are they towed to some other place or killed?
", "rawMarkdown": "Awesome information @mpwolke thanks for sharing, just curious what do we do with COTS once we identify them? Are they towed to some other place or killed?", "votes": null }, { "id": "1594557", "postDate": "11/25/2021 00:16:58", "content": "Sorry for the delayed answer Old Monk . I was publishing a topic about COTS Control, where I learned that:
\nWe can have solutions like in small Vanuatu where they remove it manually.
\n\"\"Due to limited resources and high accessibility of fringing reefs, COTS control is haphazard through a voluntary program, and only some data (e.g. number of COTS culled) are documented using an online reporting system. Marine tourism operators and community groups are leading the initiative using injector kits to cull COTS, and remote villages without kits are removing COTS manually and burning or burying them. \"
\n\"COTS are removed manually by snorkelers or divers using a steel hook and then put into a net bag and brought to the surface and buried near the beach. Alternatively, VINEGAR INJECTION is used to kill the COTS. (COTS vs COTS).
\nWe have biologically based control technologies such as semiochemicals, predator control, traditional biological control, and genetic biocontrol.
\nThough we have updated choices with AI/ML (Vertigo 3), DNN (Deep Neural Networks), DNA (eDNA), Molecular analyses, acoustic tracking , genetic control, connectivity and spatial prioritisation of COTS.
\n@saurabhbagchi
Thank you Dhinahar for reading it.
", "rawMarkdown": "Thank you Dhinahar for reading it.", "votes": null }, { "id": "1594855", "postDate": "11/25/2021 07:08:12", "content": "Thanks, very useful information @mpwolke !
", "rawMarkdown": "Thanks, very useful information @mpwolke !", "votes": null }, { "id": "1597194", "postDate": "11/27/2021 10:00:29", "content": "Wow, @mpwolke Great work. Thanks for Sharing
", "rawMarkdown": "Wow, @mpwolke Great work. Thanks for Sharing", "votes": null }, { "id": "1597405", "postDate": "11/27/2021 13:33:31", "content": "Thank you Mohamed for reading it.
", "rawMarkdown": "Thank you Mohamed for reading it.", "votes": null }, { "id": "1598162", "postDate": "11/28/2021 09:49:58", "content": "@mpwolke Great work. Thanks for Sharing
", "rawMarkdown": "mpwolke Great work. Thanks for Sharing", "votes": null }, { "id": "1598422", "postDate": "11/28/2021 13:16:44", "content": "Thank you for the appreciation Abdelrady.
", "rawMarkdown": "Thank you for the appreciation Abdelrady.", "votes": null } ], "comments": [ { "id": 1593689, "author_name": "dhinaharp", "author_url": "", "post_date": "11/24/2021 07:01:46", "content": "Good information bro
", "votes": null, "replies": [ { "id": 1594561, "author_name": "mpwolke", "author_url": "", "post_date": "11/25/2021 00:26:22", "content": "Thank you Dhinahar for reading it.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] } ] }, { "id": 1593985, "author_name": "saurabhbagchi", "author_url": "", "post_date": "11/24/2021 12:54:25", "content": "Awesome information @mpwolke thanks for sharing, just curious what do we do with COTS once we identify them? Are they towed to some other place or killed?
", "votes": null, "replies": [ { "id": 1594557, "author_name": "mpwolke", "author_url": "", "post_date": "11/25/2021 00:16:58", "content": "Sorry for the delayed answer Old Monk . I was publishing a topic about COTS Control, where I learned that:
\nWe can have solutions like in small Vanuatu where they remove it manually.
\n\"\"Due to limited resources and high accessibility of fringing reefs, COTS control is haphazard through a voluntary program, and only some data (e.g. number of COTS culled) are documented using an online reporting system. Marine tourism operators and community groups are leading the initiative using injector kits to cull COTS, and remote villages without kits are removing COTS manually and burning or burying them. \"
\n\"COTS are removed manually by snorkelers or divers using a steel hook and then put into a net bag and brought to the surface and buried near the beach. Alternatively, VINEGAR INJECTION is used to kill the COTS. (COTS vs COTS).
\nWe have biologically based control technologies such as semiochemicals, predator control, traditional biological control, and genetic biocontrol.
\nThough we have updated choices with AI/ML (Vertigo 3), DNN (Deep Neural Networks), DNA (eDNA), Molecular analyses, acoustic tracking , genetic control, connectivity and spatial prioritisation of COTS.
\n@saurabhbagchi
Thanks, very useful information @mpwolke !
", "votes": null, "replies": [] } ] }, { "id": 1597194, "author_name": "mohamedbakrey", "author_url": "", "post_date": "11/27/2021 10:00:29", "content": "Wow, @mpwolke Great work. Thanks for Sharing
", "votes": null, "replies": [ { "id": 1597405, "author_name": "mpwolke", "author_url": "", "post_date": "11/27/2021 13:33:31", "content": "Thank you Mohamed for reading it.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] } ] }, { "id": 1598162, "author_name": "abdelradymc", "author_url": "", "post_date": "11/28/2021 09:49:58", "content": "@mpwolke Great work. Thanks for Sharing
", "votes": null, "replies": [ { "id": 1598422, "author_name": "mpwolke", "author_url": "", "post_date": "11/28/2021 13:16:44", "content": "Thank you for the appreciation Abdelrady.
", "votes": null, "replies": [] } ] } ], "raw_markdown_by_id": { "1592213": "#The critical decade for coral reef survival\n\n\"This generation holds the Great Barrier Reef’s future in its hands. The actions they take now will determine whether it thrives or collapses.\"\n\n\"Insufficient global action on climate change is taking a serious toll on the health of our Great Barrier Reef and coral reefs around the world.\"\n\n\"The facts are clear – coral reefs and their communities are on the front line. We know current climate change commitments don’t go far enough to protect them and we know this is the critical decade in which to act with urgency. \"\n\n#Helping coral reefs adapt\n\n\"We must also build the resilience of Reef ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is doing this by rapidly developing and scaling up interventions that buy time for coral reefs and help them adapt to the warmer temperatures already caused by climate change.\" \n\n\"Reef Recovery 2030 is the Foundation ambitious 10-year collective effort to save the Great Barrier Reef and support global coral reef conservation.\" \n\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/this-is-the-critical-decade-for-coral-reef-survival\n\n#Coral spawning\n\n\"Coral spawning is an annual event where corals simultaneously reproduce. During this synchronised breeding, coral polyps release millions of tiny egg and sperm bundles into the water. \nEach bundle must find another bundle from the same species to fertilise. By spawning on mass, corals increase the likelihood of finding and fertilising a matching bundle.\"\n\n\"When does coral spawn? This depends on a number of factors including their location, the water temperature and tides. On the Great Barrier Reef, inshore reefs typically spawn in October, while outer reefs spawn during November or December. \"\n\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-coral-spawning-great-barrier-reef\n\n#Photogrammetry on the Great Barrier Reef\n\n\"Photogrammetry is a cutting-edge technique to measure things from photographs, by converting them into accurate three-dimensional reconstructions of objects and environments.\"\n\n\"On the Great Barrier Reef, we’re using photogrammetry (photo = image, grammetry = measure) to measure the growth, recovery and survival of corals over time, providing vital data that helps scientists decide where to focus restoration efforts.\"\n\n\"Researchers use rigs called mapping platforms with multiple cameras to take overlapping photos of Reef landscapes. They upload the images to a specialised software program that converts them into 3D maps.\"\n\n\"It’s an invaluable tool to better understand how individual corals and coral reefs are being impacted by climate change and other local threats, as well as their ability to naturally recover from these disturbances.\"\n\n#Restoration a Critical Part of Protection\n\n\"Restoration is a critical part of protecting our Reef for future generations. But deciding when and where restoration work will be most impactful can be tricky – especially given researchers are working in an underwater ecosystem the size of Italy.\"\n\n\"By providing fast, detailed and highly accurate biological data, photogrammetry helps with restoration decisions such as whether researchers should outplant corals on the east or west side or a reef, at five or 15 metres’ depth, or on a flat or wrinkled surface.\"\n\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-photogrammetry-great-barrier-reef\n\n#Coral Aquaculture\n\n\"Coral aquaculture is the process of raising large numbers of healthy corals in a specialised aquarium by replicating natural coral reproduction and growth.\"\n\n\"Once a year, wild corals reproduce en masse. Corals send enormous quantities of eggs and sperm into the water column, where the eggs are fertilised, turn into larvae and settle onto the seafloor.\"\n\n#Coral Aquaculture on the Reef\n\n\"Aquaculture helps Reef researchers reduce their reliance on ‘one-night-only’ wild spawning events, as well as the time spent underwater observing and monitoring corals. By propagating corals in aquaculture, they can control conditions and thereby fast-track our understanding of factors that impact coral survival and growth, and how to help corals better cope with increased seawater temperatures.\"\n\n\"Researchers use larval and juvenile corals in experiments to improve our understanding of how to increase their temperature tolerance, the influence of special probiotic diets and which conditions encourage coral larvae to settle and grow on the Reef. Scientists are also experimenting with ways to increase the number of heat-tolerant corals on the Reef, by first settling them onto devices designed to enhance their survival and growth in the wild, then transporting them onto the Reef.\"\n\n\"Coral aquaculture has the capacity to help with this by increasing the numbers of healthy, heat-tolerant corals on the Reef, but it’s still in the early stages of development. \"\n\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/news/blog/what-is-coral-aquaculture-great-barrier-reef\n\n#The Reef Threats\n\n\"Climate change is the greatest threat facing the reef and a challenge we must all tackle together. \nThe growing combination of rising water temperatures, poorer water quality from sediment run-off and pollution, as well as more severe cyclones and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, are just some of the threats creating a perfect storm for our reef and the iconic animals that depend on it.\"\n\nhttps://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/threats/\n\n#Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) outbreaks\n\n\"Since 1962, crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks have had a major impact on the many reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef. A fourth outbreak is currently underway in the World-Heritage Area.\"\n\n\"Crown-of-thorns starfish (also known as COTS) are marine invertebrates that feed on coral. They occur naturally on reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and when conditions are right, they can reach plague proportions and devastate hard coral communities.\"\n\n\"AIMS's research has revealed crown-of-thorns starfish are a major cause of coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef, after coral bleaching.\"\n\n\"The surveys also show that healthy reefs generally recover between outbreaks, taking 10 to 20 years to do so. However, recovery takes longer on reefs that are affected by additional stresses, such as coral bleaching, cyclones or poor water quality, so the coral may not fully recover before the next wave of outbreaks occurs.\"\n\n\"Laboratory research at AIMS has shown that survival of crown-of-thorns starfish larvae increases dramatically when phytoplankton, their food source, becomes more abundant. Phytoplankton numbers are usually low in reef waters, but production can increase rapidly if early-season monsoonal and cyclonic floods carry fertilisers and other pollutants into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.\"\n\n\"Once dense breeding populations of starfish develop on some reefs, the huge numbers of larvae that they produce can establish outbreaks on mid-shelf reefs in the central Reef, even though these reefs are hardly ever affected by runoff.\"\n\nhttps://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/biodiversity-ecology/threats/cots.html\n\n#COTS facts\n\n\"COTS prey on nearly all corals and can eat their way through 10 square metres of it a year.\"\n\n\"COTS are the world’s second largest starfish, reaching up to 1m. COTS eat by extruding their stomachs out from their bodies, wrapping it around corals and digesting their tissues.\"\n\n\"An adult crown-of-thorns starfish can live up to nine months without eating. During an outbreak, which is when 15 or more COTS are found in a one hectare area, the starfish can strip a reef of 90% of its living coral tissue.\"\n\n\"Factors that influence COTS outbreaks include excess nutrients from run-off in the ocean and overfishing or removal of their natural predators.\"\n\nhttps://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/biodiversity-ecology/threats/cots.html", "1593689": "Good information bro", "1593985": "Awesome information @mpwolke thanks for sharing, just curious what do we do with COTS once we identify them? Are they towed to some other place or killed?", "1594557": "Sorry for the delayed answer Old Monk . I was publishing a topic about COTS Control, where I learned that: \n\nWe can have solutions like in small Vanuatu where they remove it manually.\n\n \"\"Due to limited resources and high accessibility of fringing reefs, COTS control is haphazard through a voluntary program, and only some data (e.g. number of COTS culled) are documented using an online reporting system. Marine tourism operators and community groups are leading the initiative using injector kits to cull COTS, and remote villages without kits are removing COTS manually and burning or burying them. \" \n\n\"COTS are removed manually by snorkelers or divers using a steel hook and then put into a net bag and brought to the surface and buried near the beach. Alternatively, VINEGAR INJECTION is used to kill the COTS. (COTS vs COTS).\n\nWe have biologically based control technologies such as semiochemicals, predator control, traditional biological control, and genetic biocontrol.\n\nThough we have updated choices with AI/ML (Vertigo 3), DNN (Deep Neural Networks), DNA (eDNA), Molecular analyses, acoustic tracking , genetic control, connectivity and spatial prioritisation of COTS.\n@saurabhbagchi", "1594561": "Thank you Dhinahar for reading it.", "1594855": "Thanks, very useful information @mpwolke !", "1597194": "Wow, @mpwolke Great work. Thanks for Sharing", "1597405": "Thank you Mohamed for reading it.", "1598162": "mpwolke Great work. Thanks for Sharing", "1598422": "Thank you for the appreciation Abdelrady." }, "source": "meta" }