Combinations of stress factors are stopping coral from growing in the Florida Keys according to the finding of new research led by University of North Florida Biology Professor Cliff Ross. It’s a clue into what is wiping out coral colonies worldwide.
First thing's first: coral may look like rocks, but coral are animals.
Ross explains, "They’re closely related to jellyfish. If you take a bunch of jellyfish and shrink them and stick them together, that’s a coral."
Ross has been studying coral in the Florida Keys for over a decade, and lately, coral babies.
Ross says "When they’re little babies they float around in the ocean. then they settle and they grow. And they’re not going to settle if they’re stressed out."
Ross’s team found that combinations of large scale stress factors like warming sea temperatures, combined with local stress factors like pesticide runoff, can prevent new coral from forming.
The study is the first to look at the impact these combinations can have. Over half the world’s coral has been wiped out in the past century. The UNF research may help provide a better understanding of this decline.
Ross says "We can’t just focus on one stressor, because that’s not what’s happening in the environment. There are multiple stressors that are impacting coral in complicated ways."
The new study will be published in the February issue of the journal Ecotoxicology.
