WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:02.960 Do you know what real power is? It's knowing you're 2 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.719 on the same rate for energy all day, every day 3 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:08.640 with a smart all Day plan from board Gosh Energy, 4 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:11.000 save up to eight hundred and eighty euro on dual 5 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:13.519 fuel plus get a two hundred and thirty five You're 6 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:17.440 a welcome bonus switch today at Boardgosh Energy dot ie 7 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:20.519 board Gosh Energy. Know your power. 8 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:22.600 Estimating ANUEL bill at twenty six hundred and twenty nine 9 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:25.039 your new customers only thirsh of percentis kentof Smart all 10 00:00:25.079 --> 00:00:27.160 day electricity unit rates in twenty nine percent of gas 11 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:29.839 us See porcosh Energy dot E for fulties and cs. 12 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:33.520 Oh hello it's that frog singing on your porch, Ali 13 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:36.960 Ward and welcome Desmologies. Here's the deal. Smologies are small. 14 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:41.000 There's shortened versions of our full length episodes. We chop 15 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:43.920 them all up, we make them fit for your smologites 16 00:00:44.039 --> 00:00:47.200 so they are all ages and classroom friendly. We've cut 17 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:50.039 out all my swear words kid friendly. So this is 18 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:53.640 an episode from twenty nineteen with some supplemental updates from 19 00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:56.479 literally today. But if you're not around kids, if you 20 00:00:56.520 --> 00:00:58.520 are a full blown adult and you can handle some 21 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:00.840 swear words, and you have some time hit the full 22 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:04.000 length original version in the show notes, because who it's 23 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.359 worth it. It's such a good episode. But this is 24 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:09.959 a smologies version. It's rated G for general audience, and 25 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.719 it's really good and it's shorter. So this episode was 26 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:17.079 recorded in beautiful Hawaii. Her ever heard of it? A 27 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:19.159 few weeks ago? You're about to just get an ear 28 00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:22.200 full of coral. Now all I want to do is 29 00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:24.680 stare at videos of coral. Honestly, I used to just 30 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:26.840 consider them to be like the really plucky, kind of 31 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:30.040 quirky settings of a snorkeling joant, kind of like a 32 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:33.680 like a splashy backdrop in it community theater play, Like, 33 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:35.879 oh that's nice, but you know what's happening in front 34 00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:38.239 of them? What kind of fish do we have? O contrare? 35 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:41.959 After this episode you'll be like, move out of the way, fish. 36 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:45.719 I'm staring at a polyp and yeah, it's totally fun. 37 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:47.159 If you don't know what a polyp is, we will 38 00:01:47.159 --> 00:01:50.959 get to that, Okay. Nidariology totally a word. It's a 39 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:54.920 well documented, legit term. It's a study of animals. There 40 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:59.040 are over ten thousand species who have nitosites, which are 41 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:01.680 these specialized cells for catching prey? 42 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:02.599 And where does this. 43 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:06.079 Lovely, silent, consonant, weird word come from. It looks like 44 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:08.560 when your mom tries to weasel a fake term into 45 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:11.120 a words with friends play and you're like, no way, Nancy, 46 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:13.919 that's not enough vowels. But it comes from the old 47 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:17.919 Latin need day, which means a nettle, and it might 48 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:21.159 also have ties to old Latvian and Lithuanian words meaning 49 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:25.360 to itch and to tickle. So corals are Nigerians. They're 50 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.800 underwater animals that poses these kind of beautiful plant looking 51 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:31.039 things from Mars, and they want to just tickle you 52 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:33.560 to death. I'm already sold. I already love them. But 53 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:36.520 let's hear more. This ologists got his bachelor's at UC 54 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:40.599 Santa Cruz, double majoring in environmental studies and feminist studies, 55 00:02:40.919 --> 00:02:45.159 got his Masters in Biology and ecology evolution and conservation 56 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:48.759 biology in San Francisco, and is working toward his PhD 57 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:52.039 right now at this Famed Gates Lab at the University 58 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:56.000 of Hawaii, Manoa and the Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology. 59 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:58.960 Just a little update. On July sixteenth, twenty twenty one, 60 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:03.840 this PhD candidate became a doctor, successfully defending his PhD 61 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:06.879 via the Gates lab. The gate flab is a coral lab. 62 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:10.039 This dude has his hands full the coral. We're in 63 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:14.039 the middle of a spawning event. That very weak, but 64 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:16.280 he is amazing and took an hour out of his 65 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:18.599 day to come to my hotel and chat about quarrels. 66 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:22.520 We talked about what coral even is, why they're important, 67 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:25.879 what a dead reef looks like, what's up with sunscreens, 68 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:28.879 what is bleaching? And what else can we do to 69 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:32.520 help our hard, squishy pals beneath the sea, So anchor down. 70 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:35.400 Get ready for a wave of coral info with the 71 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:52.719 amazing nidariologist, doctor Shale Matsudas algy pology. 72 00:03:55.759 --> 00:04:00.360 Algy And you are a nidariologist. 73 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.479 Right, sure? I was thinking about that. Are coralologists? Maybe? 74 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:09.479 Coral? I mean, is our corals, nidaria. 75 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:15.840 Narians, the file them they're part of. And what unites 76 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:18.879 all of those animals is their stinging cells, their nitocytes. 77 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:22.480 Oh that's the common thread red. 78 00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:27.560 Yeah, So like anemonees or jellyfish and corals, I'll produce 79 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:29.879 these little stinging cells of the use in defense or 80 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:30.560 prey capture. 81 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.839 I've already learned so much about corals. I didn't know 82 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:38.199 that they got little stinkies. And so what exactly is 83 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:38.839 a coral? 84 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:42.519 That's a great question that we think about all the time. Actually, 85 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:49.240 So corals are animals first and foremost, But the corals, 86 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:51.920 when you think of a coral reef, corals, they're much 87 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:54.240 more than like the sum of their parts. So the 88 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:59.439 coral animal looks white. They have clear tissues, and they 89 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:02.600 secrete white calcium carbonate skeleton. But the reason that when 90 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:04.959 you're snorkling around a coral reef, they don't appear white 91 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:08.120 to us is because they have a symbiotic algae which 92 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:10.720 live inside their tissues that provide up to like ninety 93 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:13.839 five percent of their daily nutritional needs. And the algae 94 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:15.839 is color themselves are what we're looking at when we 95 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:16.560 see corals. 96 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:17.720 Oh my god. 97 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.399 And just like you and me, corals also have a microbiome. 98 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:24.360 They have bacteria that live inside of their tissues that 99 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:26.160 also play a lot of really important roles. 100 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:28.839 Now, what is with them being. 101 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:29.600 A skin bag? 102 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:33.079 This is like the hardest question I know. It's like, oh, man, Like, 103 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:35.360 we have a term for this. It's called the coral holobiont, 104 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:38.800 and that is like the coral animal itself. It's symbiotic algae, 105 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:41.399 it's bacteria, they're fungi, they're a kia. There are a 106 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:44.759 lot of different obligate symbionts that these corals have that 107 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:47.079 are critical for their life and function. 108 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:52.439 So it's kind of like a skeleton, a soupy mix 109 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:55.680 of goodness, and then like a little transparent skin over. 110 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:58.519 It, and then trans parent skin is the animal itself. 111 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:01.800 If you're like, what is an obligate symbiont? Those are 112 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:02.759 giant words. 113 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:03.439 I hear you. 114 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:06.279 That's why I'm here. So it essentially means a friend 115 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:09.680 that I could not live without. So all these critters 116 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:13.199 that live in the coral's body are its best friends. 117 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:18.399 They are obligate. That means they're super necessary symbionts. They 118 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:19.040 live together. 119 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:23.879 So let's recap So if just like trees that grow 120 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:25.639 in the forest, if you count their rings, you go 121 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:28.720 an idea of how old they are. Corals actually work 122 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:32.040 the same way where they are constantly secreting this calcium 123 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:35.040 carbonate skeleton and growing, and researchers will actually take a 124 00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:37.680 core of that skeleton and you can actually count the 125 00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:39.759 different layers and get an idea of the age of 126 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:41.560 the corals and also what was going on on the 127 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:42.399 planet at the time. 128 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:45.839 Oh my gosh, if you're wondering, where are corals, I 129 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:49.160 asked corals dot org and it said essentially around the 130 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:52.399 equator plus where currents flow out of the tropics, like 131 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:55.040 in Florida and southern Japan. It's a little bit warmer. 132 00:06:55.160 --> 00:06:58.279 They make up zero point two percent of the ocean floor, 133 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:01.279 but they're home to this, in my mind, twenty five 134 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:04.920 percent of marine life. What so, if sea animals were 135 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:07.759 like the cool kids, the coral reefs would be like 136 00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:10.759 the mall if this were a movie from the eighties. 137 00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:13.199 When you're doing research, is it ever difficult for you 138 00:07:13.319 --> 00:07:16.439 to say, Okay, all right, chill, we're done, We're get 139 00:07:16.439 --> 00:07:17.000 out of the water. 140 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:17.839 Are you like one word? 141 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:20.199 Oh? Yeah, absolutely. So it's always still really nice to 142 00:07:20.199 --> 00:07:22.560 go out when you're not working and just really appreciate, 143 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:24.560 you know, how lucky we are to be able to 144 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:27.199 see these environments. You know, I've worked with researchers who 145 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:29.279 you know, I'll go to a coral reef and I'll say, 146 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:31.000 this is beautiful. Look at all the diversity here. And 147 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:32.560 they'll be like, you should have seen it twenty years ago, 148 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:37.040 because they're seeing these changes at such a rapid pace 149 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:40.000 that we're witnessing them in our lifetimes. And that's that's new. Yeah, 150 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:42.240 So we haven't really talked about like what coral bleaching is. 151 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:45.399 So corals, you know, have these symbiotic algae that are 152 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:47.439 oblget that means they're required for the corals to live. 153 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:51.199 They provide to ninety five percent of their daily nutritional needs. 154 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:54.360 And when the temperatures are good, everything is happy. 155 00:07:54.439 --> 00:07:54.639 You know. 156 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:56.920 The corals get what they need, the symbios get what 157 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:00.319 they need. But when the water temperature rises it's just 158 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:03.839 even slightly above that thermal maximum that the corals can handle, 159 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:08.240 the corals are starting to stress out. I'm freaking out, 160 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:12.839 and one of their stress responses is to expel. These 161 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:16.519 algae are so kind of how we get sick. We'll 162 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:19.120 get a fever, and that's good, it's helping. It's our 163 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.560 body's way of helping protect us. But if that fever 164 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:23.800 gets too high or it is not for too long, 165 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:25.680 that can actually be detrimental to us. And the same 166 00:08:25.720 --> 00:08:28.639 thing's true with coral bleaching. So as the corals are 167 00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:31.879 purging out these algal symbionts. It's not just all at 168 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:34.159 a time. You can watch a coral start to pale, 169 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:36.799 losing its color, right because as somebian s leave, that 170 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:39.720 white skeleton showing through. And then as that's happening, the 171 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:41.919 longer goes on, the corals aren't getting the energy and 172 00:08:42.120 --> 00:08:43.159 they can begin to starve. 173 00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:48.080 Okay, so under temperature stressors, corals toss their internal friends 174 00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:51.480 and they bleach because they lose that color. So they're 175 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:54.720 not dead, but they're certainly weaker and they're in danger. 176 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:58.320 It is not cute. Shale says that some corals even 177 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:02.879 need both bacteria and certain viruses present to survive these 178 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:06.600 thermal events, so the symbiotic connections go deep. They get 179 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:10.120 complicated things that a coral party just aren't the same 180 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:12.639 without both bacteria and viruses. 181 00:09:12.840 --> 00:09:14.480 And what you'll see is if you should go out 182 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:16.679 into the to a coral reef when this is happening, 183 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:19.000 if you see these corals that are white, you're seeing 184 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:21.159 that skeleton through the tissue, but the tissue still there. 185 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:24.120 The corals are still alive. And if that stressor leaves, 186 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:27.279 the corals have a chance to recover those symbio communities 187 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:30.759 can proliferate again and the corals they'll repigment and be okay. 188 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:34.440 But if that stressor goes on too long, the corals 189 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:37.759 can die. And we've seen this happen on massive scales 190 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:42.320 on a reef. And also some corals aren't bleaching some individuals, 191 00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:44.879 like in Kanye Bay during the twenty fourteen to twenty 192 00:09:44.919 --> 00:09:48.399 fifteen bleaching events that we had, there'd be two corals 193 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:50.960 the exact same species, right next to each other, like 194 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:53.240 touching on the reef, and one of them would be 195 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:56.759 bleached and one of them would be visibly totally normal. 196 00:09:57.399 --> 00:10:01.200 And so when you're looking at st two different examples 197 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.559 of coral next to each other, are those different individuals 198 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:07.919 genetically or are those different groups of a bunch of individuals. 199 00:10:08.519 --> 00:10:11.039 When you're looking at a fan of coral? How many 200 00:10:11.080 --> 00:10:12.960 people are you looking at that are coral? 201 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:16.559 Yeah, that's a good question. So a coral colony is 202 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:18.519 a coral you can think of a coral of itself 203 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:19.279 is a coral pollup? 204 00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:20.200 What is a pollup? 205 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:23.440 Well, it's a squishy little bugger with a feathery head 206 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:26.960 and it secretes calcium carbonate and it's base to anchor 207 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:30.200 it on a surface, kind of like a cupholder filled 208 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:33.440 with one of those gas station wind sock dancers, only 209 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:34.960 made out of jello salad. 210 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:36.679 So you look a little mouth kind of like if 211 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:38.759 you took it on eminy. That's kind of structure mouth 212 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:41.840 and middle tentacles on the outside. And as a coral grows, 213 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:46.200 it buds off and creates a genetically identical polyp. And 214 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:49.519 as those polyps continue to multiply and spread and grow, 215 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:52.440 you've had a coral colony that is made up of 216 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:54.960 polyps that are all one genetic individual. 217 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:00.440 And now what about their stinkiness. They're little stinger stingers. 218 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:05.600 How is that helping them survive or thwart predators? Or 219 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:09.399 are their predators to coral other than just human? 220 00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:13.919 Yeah, they use their stinging cells a lot to in 221 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:15.879 pray capture. So if you see, if you like, stare 222 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:18.279 at a coral long enough under the scope, and you know, 223 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:22.159 if your piece of plankton, you know, swims up, you'll 224 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:23.919 you'll see it almost like kind of like a you know, 225 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.720 venus slide trap. You'll see the plankton get stuck to 226 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:28.960 the coral tentacoles, and then the coral tentacles will pull 227 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:31.759 it into its mouth and suck it in and digest it. 228 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:34.200 It's really neat to watch. So but those, you know, 229 00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:35.720 the stinging cells, like if you touch a coral, what 230 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:38.480 you shouldn't do. It will try to sting YouTube But 231 00:11:38.519 --> 00:11:40.799 our skin is too thick. But you know other animals 232 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:42.679 like you know to use man of war for example, 233 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:46.679 Like there are stinging cells that can affect us too, 234 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:48.879 but corals are pretty safe. Don't touch them. 235 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:54.159 But morning bumber question, bumber question, And what do you 236 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:59.039 think is the biggest coral bummer for the coral? Would 237 00:11:59.080 --> 00:12:03.120 it be a rise in temperature or ocean a cerentification pollution? 238 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:08.639 Like is there what's their big? What's their big? Said Trombone. 239 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:14.919 So corals are dealing with a lot of threats right now, 240 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:20.120 the biggest one being the impacts of climate change, and 241 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:23.120 we're seeing this on reefs today in the form of 242 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:26.639 sea surface temperature warming and ocean certification. As you mentioned, 243 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:29.360 why this is so bad is that we're seeing an increase, 244 00:12:29.399 --> 00:12:32.240 like even in our lifetimes of these massive coral bleaching 245 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:36.039 events worldwide, and a coral bleaching event can can wipe 246 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:39.159 out entire reef ecosystems in like one season, and we're 247 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:42.679 seeing them not only you know, it's not just like 248 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:45.440 a one off anymore. And here in Hawaii we've had 249 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.240 we had the event in twenty fourteen again in twenty fifteen. 250 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:52.200 The Great Barrier reef has also experienced these successive events. 251 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:54.519 And so while you know, we're seeing corals that are 252 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:57.600 able to survive one round of this warming and recover, 253 00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:00.799 it's like you keep on hitting them. What is that affecting? 254 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:02.960 And you add things like the local stressors, like you know, 255 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:07.240 overfishing or sedimentation and pollution runoff from a lot of 256 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.399 the local environments that are there. Those are the kind 257 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:13.000 of the the added pressures that that corals are facing. 258 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:17.639 And it's if it is so good, like it is 259 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:20.279 so good and so important to mitigate some of these 260 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:25.200 local stressors, right, like you know, diverting pollution, sedimentation really important, 261 00:13:25.240 --> 00:13:27.639 Like a coral can't live if it's covered in sediment. 262 00:13:27.480 --> 00:13:30.720 So yes, get the stuff off the coral. But the 263 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:32.440 biggest help that they need. 264 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:35.360 The most important thing that we need to address if 265 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:37.480 we want corals in the future is climate change. 266 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:40.279 And why are coral reefs important. 267 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:42.919 They're really important for a lot of different reasons. They're 268 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:45.039 one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. They're 269 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:50.440 a bank for biodiversity, and within that, you know, the 270 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:54.840 coral reefs themselves are the breeding grounds and homes for 271 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:57.840 tons of marine life. You've got animals that will come 272 00:13:57.879 --> 00:14:01.440 in from like the deeper oceans to to breed. Fish 273 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:05.120 is a really important food resource for a lot of 274 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:07.519 coastal communities. It's their main source of protein, main source 275 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:10.200 of putting for many people in the world. And the 276 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:13.000 reef environment is where a lot of those larger game 277 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.360 fish reproduce and come back to coral reefs and a 278 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.519 lot of our coastal ecosystems are really important for mitigating 279 00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:22.039 coastal damage. They absorb a lot of that you know, 280 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:24.679 wave action, that wave power that's coming in. We've all 281 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:28.320 seen really awful things that have been happening a lot 282 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:30.600 of our coastal communities around the world because of you know, 283 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:35.200 flooding and coastline erosion and things like that. And especially 284 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:39.000 like here in Hawaii, the coral reef ecosystems are incredibly 285 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:43.759 important culturally and there's a lot of history, there's a 286 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:46.080 lot of stories a lot of history wrapped up in 287 00:14:46.120 --> 00:14:49.200 these these ecosystems. You know, there's a lot of reasons 288 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:50.200 to protect them. 289 00:14:50.279 --> 00:14:54.039 And also before Patreon questions, it's a big day for 290 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.799 you because they started spawning last night. 291 00:14:57.320 --> 00:15:01.000 What yeah, they did? They would spawn spawn a palooza 292 00:15:01.080 --> 00:15:01.600 right now. 293 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:04.919 It is. It is something really amazing about corals that 294 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:08.360 there's not enough amazing stuff is coral spawning events. And 295 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:11.399 so corals, right, you're a sedentary animal. You're not moving 296 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:14.279 around to find your mates. How you're in the ocean, 297 00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:17.000 how are you going to reproduce, you know, besides fragmenting off? 298 00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:19.759 And so the way it works is it's a combination 299 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:23.320 of cues. It's the moon cycle, it's the temperature. It's 300 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:27.039 like the pressure in the environment that will all come 301 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:30.759 together and cue the corals to release their gammetes into 302 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:33.960 the water column. And for the coral species that we study, 303 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.759 the rice coral On Tiper capitata out here in the lab, 304 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:40.559 they spawn two to three months during the summer, on 305 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:42.360 the night of the new moon and a few nights 306 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:45.240 after and if you're lucky enough to be out in 307 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:48.159 the bay, you kind of peer over at around eight 308 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:52.120 forty five PM, and you'll start to see these little 309 00:15:52.679 --> 00:15:55.919 cream colored bundles slowly floating to the surface of the 310 00:15:55.960 --> 00:15:58.519 water with the size of a pinhead. And on a 311 00:15:58.519 --> 00:16:01.159 really big night like the entire surface will be just 312 00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:03.799 like covered in these little white dots. And you know, 313 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:07.000 in the next day or so there'll be swimming coral larvy, 314 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:10.039 these little adbd jellybeans, and then those larvy will then 315 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:12.960 you know, swim around and look for some suitable substrate 316 00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:16.919 to metamorphose into the first polyp, which will hopefully grow 317 00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:18.960 into too many to form the next colony. 318 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:21.960 Show Rotop blog post last June about corarelspawning, and in 319 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.480 it he describes setting out on the night of the 320 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:27.080 new moon with life jackets and a first aid kit 321 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:30.240 and headlamps. They use red lights so they don't interfere 322 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:33.200 with any lunar cues for the coral, and they have 323 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.960 as many two and a half gallon buckets as we'll 324 00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:39.039 fit on the floor of a small whaler boat. And 325 00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:41.320 he says in it, our tools are not glamorous, but 326 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:43.559 they get the job done. And there are photos of 327 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:47.600 these milky trails of coral bundles popping to release eggs 328 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:50.600 into the water. And a glimpse of what field research 329 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:52.399 looks like. So for more of that, I'm going to 330 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:55.120 link the post in the show notes and on my website. 331 00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:57.919 Now we're about to ask your patroon questions, but before 332 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:00.799 we do, a few words from sponsor of the show. 333 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:03.679 These sponsors make it possible for ologies to donate to 334 00:17:03.799 --> 00:17:07.079 a charity of each ologists choosing, and this week Shale 335 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:10.279 pick two. The first one is pepe Ohaye. It's a private, 336 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:15.200 nonprofit organization caring for an ancient Hawaiian fishpond located on 337 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:19.000 Awahu and its vision is to perpetuate a foundation of 338 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:23.480 cultural sustainability and to provide intellectual and physical and spiritual 339 00:17:23.559 --> 00:17:26.799 sustenance for their community. And a second donation went to 340 00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:30.240 Point Foundation and Pointfoundation dot org is the nation's largest 341 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:35.359 scholarship granting organization for LGBTQ plus students of Merit and 342 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:41.279 Point promotes changed through scholarship funding, mentorship, leadership development, and 343 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:44.759 community service training. And links to both those charities and 344 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:46.759 to our sponsors who make that possible will be in 345 00:17:46.759 --> 00:17:51.640 the show notes. Okay, some things I'm liking this week. Okay, 346 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:55.400 your questions now, first question we got from Laura Crippen's 347 00:17:55.720 --> 00:17:58.480 and a bunch of other folks asked how harmful is 348 00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:00.960 sunscreen to coral This is a big question. 349 00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:03.519 It's a tough question. 350 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:06.079 It's a tough question. So, like people have definitely, you know, 351 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:12.319 seen movements in different coastal communities to ban on safe sunscreen, 352 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:14.359 and like this is a field of research that is 353 00:18:14.759 --> 00:18:16.680 beginning to grow. It's a new thing that we're seeing, 354 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:20.799 and it's like really important to consider these kind of 355 00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:23.200 like stressors and these daily things that we're doing that 356 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:25.839 may or not be harmful to reefs. Right, Considering what 357 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:28.440 sunscreen you use, just like considering any type of chemicals 358 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:31.039 that you're inducing introducing to a natural environment is a 359 00:18:31.079 --> 00:18:37.160 really important thing. However, where you know, a lot of 360 00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:40.400 what what we are concerned about is that you know, 361 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:43.400 in the grand scheme of the impacts facing corals, it 362 00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:45.799 is a very small drop in the bucket compared to 363 00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:51.559 climate change. The danger is when that's where we stop, right, Like, 364 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:54.759 you know, considering your sunscreen choice is a really great 365 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:58.160 point of departure. But if that's the stopping point, that's 366 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:00.720 a really dangerous thing because you know, just changing your 367 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:04.440 sunscreen is not going to slow down our loss. 368 00:19:04.200 --> 00:19:06.720 Of reefs, right, so don't just change for a mineral 369 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:07.960 sunscreen and be like nailed it. 370 00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:08.960 Yeah. 371 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:11.680 So this next question was also asked by listener Grace 372 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:15.519 and Allegro Violetta. Benisman wants to know what role does 373 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:18.079 concrete truly play in the health of our coral? 374 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:19.319 And I know nothing about. 375 00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:22.799 This concrete composition and we'll look this up. Is it 376 00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:25.799 has a lot of same attributes as like custom carbonate 377 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:28.920 coral skeletons. It's a really great substrate because it's as 378 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:30.759 kind of chorous, so a lot of times you'll see, 379 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:32.160 like I think it is in Mexico where they have 380 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:36.119 that underwater sculpture installation made a concrete that different corals 381 00:19:36.119 --> 00:19:38.920 and sponges and whatnot are all recruiting to, so it 382 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:41.079 can actually act as a pretty good substrate. It's a 383 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.200 really great substrate for artificial reefs. 384 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:48.200 So he's talking about an underwater museum in Cancun, Mexico. 385 00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:52.240 It consists of nearly five hundred sunken sculptures and they 386 00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:55.640 serve as a base for new coral. Why did they 387 00:19:55.680 --> 00:19:59.000 make this, you ask, because too many tourists were snorkeling 388 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:02.160 in the natural local reefs and destroying them. So they 389 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:05.000 were like, hey, hey, look over here, look over here, 390 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:07.640 look at these look at these sculptures. And it worked. 391 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:10.400 So people go there now and coral can grow on 392 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:13.640 it ding perfect. What's your favorite part about your job 393 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:15.359 or about corals? 394 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:21.480 Oh, man, we do a whole podcast on that. My 395 00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:25.079 favorite part of my job is I'm getting I'm anstering 396 00:20:25.079 --> 00:20:26.640 it into part, which I know you're supposed to do. 397 00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:28.519 No, it's member reports you want. 398 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:34.119 It's it's like it's the daily life in the people 399 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:36.680 I work with for sure, Like in the community, when 400 00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:40.400 you're working on issues that's this important, people are really 401 00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:42.960