HC Coral Reef 2025: Learn About Coral Reefs

Faced with dying coral reefs, a team of researchers are breeding heat-resistant corals in an effort to restore the population.

A report on Florida's endangered reefs. Marine biologists work to rebuild the reefs in new and innovative ways. Includes interviews with Andrew Baker and Diego Lirman, marine biologists and professors at the University of Miami; Ross Cunning, a research biologist with the Shedd aquarium; Liv Williamson, a biologist at the University of Miami; and Brian Haus, a professor and Chair of the Department of Ocean Sciences at the University of Miami.

If oceans continue to warm at the current pace, coral reefs could be wiped out by the end of the century. But scientists from around the globe are rushing to help corals adapt to a changing climate through assisted evolution.

Coral reefs regenerate themselves. Some corals are hermaphroditic, releasing packages of eggs and sperm. Somehow, it works out that dozens of different species release eggs and sperm at the same time. They float together and begin fertilization, creating larvae. The larvae then settles, and morphs into a polyp. The polyps secrete a hard skeleton of limestone. Slowly and gradually, a huge coral reef is formed. They are the largest structures built by living creatures in the world, and take millions of years to build. But it only takes a little time for careless divers, boaters, and global warming to destroy huge parts of them. Not only is this a problem for the coral, but also a quarter of all sea creatures call the reefs home.