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Inside the Lab That Could Help Save Corals From Destruction

Scientists reach a milestone in establishing a captive coral population that could reproduce year after year, allowing researchers to perform crucial studies.

Released on 04/23/2018


[Narrator] You're looking at one of the rarest happenings

on earth, coral spawning.

Well, not coral spawning per se,

that happens all the time in nature,

but coral spawning in captivity

here at The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

It's all thanks to a mix of good old science

and clever technology,

and if scientists can duplicate

this technique in other labs,

they could supercharge coral research

and perhaps help save the creatures from destruction.

Because coral are monumentally important species

that act as the literal foundation for whole ecosystems,

losing them is not an option.

Corals are extremely sensitive to light

and temperature and acidity,

and are struggling mightily

under the weight of climate change.

That's messing both with their growth and reproduction.

To find out how exactly,

scientists have to get them reproducing in the lab.

So researchers at the Academy of Sciences

collected specimens from Palau and the Pacific Ocean

and brought them to this tiny

custom-built room in San Francisco.

So, the coral spawning lab's a very complicated system.

Not only do we have to

do everything you need to keep corals alive in general,

but then we have to put it in a

climate and light-controlled space.

[Narrator] Their computerized system can produce light

in a wide range of colors and intensities.

[Rich] They ramp up slowly,

so we are able to mimic sunrise and sunset.

[Narrator] The computer system

also precisely controls water temperature

to mimic both night and day as well as longer-term trends.

We've inputted information

into what's called a season table.

So we put in, for each month, the moonrise, the moonset,

when the full moon is, when the sunrise and sunset is,

and what the maximum and minimum temperatures are.

[Narrator] For such a supposedly simple animal,

this all may seem like a bit much,

but corals are, in fact, way more complex than they let on.

They do have pretty sophisticated photosensory systems.

So, it's all linked into their circadian rhythm.

There are photoreceptors all over the animal,

and so it is linked to their ability

to sense different wavelengths of light.

[Narrator] It's this kind of sensitivity

that enables the incredibly precise spawning of corals.

There are certain populations around the world

that have been very heavily monitored,

that we know down to, within the minute sometimes,

when these corals are going to spawn

because they've been monitored for years and years in a row.

[Narrator] And thanks to their fancy digs

here at the Academy, spawn they have,

which means these species may be on their way

to becoming model organisms like fruit flies and mice

that scientists can keep and study in the lab.

The problem with corals has been

they're way more finicky than fruit flies.

But thanks to technology

and a better understanding of their biology,

these scientists may be on the verge

of establishing a population that spawns year after year,

a feat only one other lab in the world has managed.

We've had model systems where you can recreate

an entire life cycle and have multiple generations

and ask some really sophisticated questions.

We've never been able to do that with corals,

and so this would be an opportunity

to try to complete that life cycle

and ask some really sophisticated questions

'cause corals are fascinating organisms.

[Narrator] The biggest problems to tackle

are growth and reproduction,

both of which are compromised in the wild right now

because of ocean warming and acidification.

By bringing corals into the lab,

scientists can more closely monitor

their reproductive cycle.

They could manipulate the pH of water, for instance,

to see how it impairs the fertilization process.

Then we could harness that knowledge

and use it to leverage restoration efforts in the field

to try to enhance and get more corals out there

after disturbance events.

[Narrator] So, from this tiny room

at the California Academy of Sciences

could come great things.

Just keep your hand off the lights, please.