KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) — A team of scientists from the University of Miami, the Florida Aquarium and Tela Marine in Honduras is working together to transplant crossbred coral fragments onto a reef off Miami’s coastline that was devastated by coral bleaching two years ago.
They’re looking for ways to help reefs survive increased ocean temperatures caused by global warming and climate change.
“It’s the end of a very long process,” Andrew Baker, professor of marine biology and ecology at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School and director of the Coral Reef Futures Lab, said Tuesday as divers planted the corals off Miami.
The plan of introducing corals from the Caribbean evolved over the past few years.
“We had this idea that we really needed to try to help Florida’s coral reef by introducing more diversity from around the Caribbean, recognizing that some of the biggest threats to corals, like