Protecting corals and the health of the oceans is the goal of the Big Ideas for Oceans funding programme. Six interdisciplinary groups at Stanford University will have the freedom to carry out innovative and unrestricted research: those researches that have the potential to generate revolutionary insights
Oceans and corals, ecosystems to protect
Six research groups from Stanford University (USA) will cooperate to safeguard the health of oceans.
Thanks to the Big Ideas for Oceans funding program, scholars will have solid financial support to continue their research.
Financing innovative and unrestricted research
The objective of Big Ideas for Oceans is to allow scholars to carry out innovative and unrestricted research: those researches that have the potential to generate revolutionary insights and have the key to their success in interdisciplinary collaboration between academics.
The funding for interdisciplinary research projects ranges from $10,000 to $150,000 for a maximum of two years. The Woods Institute for the Environment’s Environmental Venture Projects program deals with administrative management.
The second edition of the Big Ideas for Oceans programme – aware of the pressing global challenges such as biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change – also prioritizes projects to identify effective adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Among the projects selected for 2024, we highlight one to maintain the health of oceans and corals.
How to preserve the health of corals?
The year 2024 seems destined to break the temperature records of previous years, including those of the sea. Under these climatic conditions, corals could undergo a new global bleaching.
Corals and coral reefs’ health is closely linked to the oceans. These absorb more than a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions caused by the combustion of fossil fuels. As a result, seawater becomes more acidic, which threatens the survival of calcification organisms such as corals and oysters.
Corals secret a species of mucus that houses thousands of microbes and plays a key role in the coral’s immune system by protecting it from infections.
Researchers have already identified heat-resistant corals and others that are more vulnerable. Now, they want to find out how the chemistry of mucus affects coral bleaching due to the rise in water temperature.
Coral reefs are an essential ocean ecosystem
However, it is not enough to see that corals survive whitening: scholars believe that the persistence of unfavourable conditions can harm them irreversibly.
Corals are made up of thousands of small animals (polyps) that typically live in warm, shallow waters. Their exoskeletons are made of calcium carbonate.
Coral reefs are formed by a multitude of coral species that together form an ecosystem that houses fish, crabs, marine stars, mollusks, and algae.
Coral bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel algae: a process that eventually causes the death of the polyps.
What are the coral reefs for?
Coral reefs play an essential ecological role.
For example, phytoplankton-deficient waters (the basis of the marine food chain) represent oases of life in the middle of the oceanic desert.
500 million people worldwide live from fishing near coral reefs, and a coral barrier of 1 square mile can provide 10 to 15 tons of fish a year.
They cover 0.2% of the ocean’s surface but host 30% of marine biodiversity. Because they absorb the power of waves, they constitute an ideal natural barrier against cyclones, storms, and erosion. In fact, they protect the shores better than any man-made structure.
Among the ongoing studies funded by Big Ideas for Oceans, we want to point out one on microplastics, which do not remain on the surface of the sea.
Researchers want to understand the processes that help transport microplastics from the surface to the depths where they accumulate.
The results of their studies could be a step forward in the fight against microplastic pollution.
