1 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Hey, you welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My 2 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:11,400 Speaker 1: name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and it's Saturday. 3 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: Time to head on into the old vault. This time 4 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: there seems to be a tide slashing around in the vault. 5 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,120 Speaker 1: What are we doing today? We are revisiting an older 6 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, one from July 7 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: of This is an episode that we did with Dr 8 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: mar J Hart. This is a Christian episode. We were 9 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,599 Speaker 1: chatting with Dr Hart about coral reefs and coral reef 10 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: ecology and coral reef reproduction specifically. Well, every chat with 11 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: Mara Hart is excellent. So y'all are in for a treat. Yeah, 12 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: and uh I was. I was inspired to rerun this 13 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: one because as of this recording, I just got back 14 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: from a week's stay in Belize. My family went out 15 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: to Glover's Reef, which is part of the Belize Barrier Reef. 16 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: We're staying at a little place called is Lamara saw 17 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: All and uh it was absolutely lovely every day going 18 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: out snorkeling um amid the coral, getting to see all 19 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: these creatures big and small, Especially from from my experience, 20 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: I just really enjoyed us seeing the nurse sharks, one 21 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: of which was like six ft long. It was really impressive. 22 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 1: And then the uh, these these eagle rays that you 23 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 1: know that they kind of flap and soar through the water. 24 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: But yeah, it was just at times this kind of 25 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: almost religious experience to be um snorkeling in this kind 26 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: of ecosystem. So I was, I was. I remember that 27 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: this episode not only when it really into the signs 28 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: of corals, but also talks about the importance of preserving 29 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: our coral reefs and uh and highlights some of the 30 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: organizations UH involved in this ongoing effort, this ongoing fight 31 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: to save them in preserve places like this so that 32 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: that that everybody can can have a shot at experiencing them. Excellent, Well, 33 00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: let's jump right in life. Welcome to stuff to blow 34 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: your mind from how Stuff Works dot com. For corals 35 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: that live beneath to see, their days are marked by celibacy, 36 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,079 Speaker 1: excepting one night when the moon is just right, they 37 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: engage in a million strong orgy. But for them to 38 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: secure the prize, corals must be ever wise, for there 39 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: is a catch. In order to dispatch, their orgasms must 40 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: be synchronized. Hey, welcome to stuff to blow your mind. 41 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Christian Seger. And 42 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: that may have sounded like the Dr. Seuss version of 43 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: Coral Sex, but actually it was a bit from mar 44 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 1: j Harts Sex in the Sea, which we've talked about 45 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: on the show before and we're gonna do again this episode. Yeah, 46 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:53,639 Speaker 1: it's a great book. We talked about it in our 47 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: previous episode that was devoted to the weird sexual ways 48 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: of the Ossodoxy the bone worm bone eating worm Ocean, 49 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: And in that episode, Corals came up and we said, hey, 50 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: there's a lot of stuff to to discuss here. Why 51 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: don't we just have you back on in the summer, 52 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 1: we'll do a whole episode on Corals, and we wanted 53 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: to time it for this summer because we're in Corals 54 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: spawning season right now, as mar will discuss with us. 55 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: So the way this episode is going to be set 56 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: up is we're gonna give you just like a brief 57 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,760 Speaker 1: primer on Corals and their reproduction, and then we're gonna 58 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: talk tomorrow because she's the expert on this, and we 59 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: really get into all the details, especially because Mara just 60 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: got back a week ago. From the what sounds like 61 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: the world's biggest conference on coral ecology. So she had 62 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: a lot of like groundbreaking news for us. Yeah, some 63 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: of some of it rather sobering, but some of it 64 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: very exciting as well. You know, I think one of 65 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: the big take comes here that I got out of 66 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: the research that I hope that that that listeners get too, 67 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: is this idea that and I feel like this is 68 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:02,119 Speaker 1: sometimes lost in our media absorption of the information, is that, 69 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: you know, coral reefs, corals are not just like a 70 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: background organism. They are the bedrock of these ecological systems, 71 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: making life possible in areas that would otherwise just be 72 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: barren and lifeless. I think for a lot of people, 73 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: the way that they think about them is almost as 74 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: if that they're like plant life. And I have to admit, 75 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: even for myself, until we sat down and really did 76 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,720 Speaker 1: the research for this episode, I didn't quite understand their anatomy. 77 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,799 Speaker 1: And so maybe that we can sort of help set 78 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: that up for the audience for you out there. And uh, 79 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 1: then when we talk tomorrow about just how dire the 80 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:45,200 Speaker 1: consequences are right now for coral ecology, that'll you know, 81 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:49,839 Speaker 1: drive home the importance of trying to help these critters out. Yeah. 82 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: I feel like at times we almost have an amateur 83 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: aquarium um view of it, where we think, oh, I'm 84 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:57,720 Speaker 1: the fish is what I'm excited about. Anything else is 85 00:04:57,760 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: just like a plant that we throw in, or maybe 86 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:02,920 Speaker 1: like a ceramic Buddha that flows to the bottom. Right. 87 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:05,200 Speaker 1: And then in looking at the coral reefs to we 88 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,279 Speaker 1: we see the finished picture. We see the corals, we 89 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: see all the fish and all the creatures. I feel 90 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 1: that it's kind of like looking at Las Vegas and 91 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: seeing all this life, all the light and the fountains 92 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:16,920 Speaker 1: and saying, look at that. Life is just splendid there. 93 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: It's just going, just going splendidly, without realizing that without 94 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: Hoover Damn, without the with the necessary um um you know, 95 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: water system in place, there would be no life there 96 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: at all. Yep, yeah, exactly. Corals are a hugely important 97 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: ecosystem for and this is a stat a quarter of 98 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: all marine fish species, so they're very important. They're not 99 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 1: just pretty structures that happen to be underwater. They also 100 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 1: benefit us. I'm by us, I mean human beings by 101 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: buffeting coastal regions from strong waves and I'll get into 102 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:56,600 Speaker 1: it a little bit further. Uh, they promote our economy 103 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: in huge ways too. So uh, these are super important. 104 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: And they have totally weird, bizarre orgy sex to which 105 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,480 Speaker 1: is fun to talk about. So let's get into it. 106 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: Let's talk about coral reefs and coral polyps and what's 107 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 1: the story here. So they're actually made of two things. Now, 108 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: when we think about corals, or at least the way 109 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: I did, I always thought of just the limestone skeletons, right, 110 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:29,160 Speaker 1: these these formations. But corals themselves are actually tiny little polyps. Uh, 111 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:34,599 Speaker 1: and they excrete the limestone that creates these skeletons. Now, 112 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 1: I said earlier, we talk a lot about sort of 113 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: the dire threats that they're facing. They're actually being destroyed 114 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: at a rate that will see seventy of them gone 115 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: in less than forty years. That was one stat that 116 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,360 Speaker 1: I read when we just talked tomorrow. She said ten 117 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 1: percent of all reefs are already permanently lost are expected 118 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 1: to be lost in the next few decades. So that's 119 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: that's a lot um and why is that? What we 120 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: talk to her about that as well. But real quick primer, 121 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: if you even shift one degree of temperature in the 122 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: water that they're in. It can damage them, causing them 123 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 1: to expel the algae that's within them, which they have 124 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: a symbiotic relationship with this, and this is the key 125 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: to their ability to to colonize these these rather hostile regions. 126 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: Absolutely yeah, uh. And they're also facing external threats from hurricanes, predators, pollution, 127 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: over fishing, and from us. Just talking tomorrow, she did 128 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: a great job of explaining what a bleaching event is, 129 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: which is the actual impact of these temperature changes causing 130 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 1: the algae to separate from the coral polyps and basically 131 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: either killing them or making it so that they don't 132 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: have enough energy to reproduce. So why should you care? 133 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: Here's why if you want just a purely selfish reason, 134 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 1: if all you care about is your own well being, 135 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: it's important to our economy. Actually, uh, they provide jobs 136 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 1: for fishing, construction, and believe it or not, pharmaceuticals. There's 137 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: an estimated three hundred and seventy five billion dollars a 138 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: year that come out of coral reefs, so that's pretty huge. 139 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: We don't want to lose these even on just like 140 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: a purely selfish monetary level outside of any kind of 141 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: like altruistic ecological level. Okay, alright, let's roll into the 142 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: basic biology of corals. Okay, So corals were originally thought 143 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: to be plants, so I wasn't alone in that. And 144 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: if you're out there and you thought the same thing, 145 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: scientists thought that too. But they're actually tiny, little, soft 146 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,680 Speaker 1: bodied creatures and their carnivores too. They're fixed to one 147 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: spot as a polyp, and it's they basically have these 148 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 1: barbed stinging cells that are called nematocysts, and these are 149 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 1: what they used to capture food, like little tiny fish 150 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:57,719 Speaker 1: or zooplankton. They're only about three millimeters long, and they 151 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: grow to become reefs that stretch from miles when they 152 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: combine together with their limestone and their huge colonies. The 153 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: polyps themselves are basically and and Mara says this as well, 154 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: they're basically just a gut with a mouth that's surrounded 155 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,920 Speaker 1: by tentacles. So it's like a teeny tiny little Lovecraft monster. Yeah, 156 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: the thing that you discredited as a mere plant turn 157 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: not to be close to your heart exactly. Now, we 158 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: talked about the symbiosis that they have with algae. Well, 159 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: the algae that they live together with are called zoos 160 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 1: in Theelli and uh Um I believe Mara says that 161 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: it's okay to refer to them as zooks. That's that's 162 00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: kind of like the the in crowd nickname that they have. 163 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: But they're an algae that lives inside the cell walls 164 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: of corals, and the algae provides them with byproducts of 165 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: photosynthesis that then feeds the polyp. The polyp subsequently shelters 166 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,559 Speaker 1: the algae and provides them with the chemicals that they 167 00:09:55,600 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: need for photosynthesis. So up to of algaees energy is 168 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:04,800 Speaker 1: transferred into the polyps. So you can see now why 169 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: if that algae is forced to flee because of coral bleaching, 170 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 1: why the polyp would be weakened significantly. Okay, So this 171 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: energy helps them to do things like produce the limestone 172 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:20,119 Speaker 1: that they are covered in, and that's made of calcium carbonate. 173 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: They secrete it from their base and it creates a 174 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: protective skeleton that they basically hide in from predators. And 175 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:31,559 Speaker 1: because they rarely exist alone, they also joined together with 176 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: other polyps as a colony and act basically like a 177 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:39,400 Speaker 1: single organism. Colonies. Now, I just told you one polyp 178 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: is like three millimeters. Colonies can weigh tons. These things 179 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 1: are huge, uh, and they have many branches that form out. 180 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: And this is what we call reefs. Okay, so let's 181 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:52,960 Speaker 1: get to the nitty gritty of what this is about, 182 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,719 Speaker 1: all right. That today's episode is about coral sex reproduction. 183 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 1: And they reproduce in two ways, or they grow in 184 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: two ways. The first is they just keep adding limestone 185 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: to their base and they secrete upward and outward, right, 186 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:11,839 Speaker 1: so the reef gets bigger that way. The main way 187 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 1: what we end up talking to Mara about primarily is reproduction, 188 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: and they produce a sexually and sexually a sexual reproduction 189 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: is where they divide and create identical clones of themselves, 190 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:27,160 Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk to Mara about why that's not 191 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:29,920 Speaker 1: always such a good thing. But they can basically make 192 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 1: fragments of themselves and then reattached to different parts of 193 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: a reef and then continue to grow. Sexual reproduction this 194 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 1: is the weird stuff, and this is what we spend 195 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: a lot of time talking with Mara about. This is 196 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: basically when they send out their eggs and sperm, and 197 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: it works like this. Their sexual reproduction only occurs once 198 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: a year, shortly after a full moon. It's called broadcast spawning, 199 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:56,960 Speaker 1: and this is where the colonies release a cloud of 200 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: brightly colored eggs and sperm into the ocean. And these 201 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: bundles are not only buoyant, but they are also attached 202 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: to their parental polyps by like umbilical strings of mucus. 203 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: Mara describes it as being like this pink cloud of 204 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 1: snow flakes floating upward. It it sounds kind of beautiful, actually, 205 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 1: if if you get the opportunity to see it. Shrimp 206 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:21,439 Speaker 1: and worms that are around there part of the ecology 207 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:23,720 Speaker 1: of the coral reef, they're gonna eat this stuff as 208 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: it floats upward. But but basically the polyps turn pink 209 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,000 Speaker 1: right before they release it. One of the articles that 210 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: I read for research on this described it as milky 211 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:37,600 Speaker 1: pink waters. The eggs are then ejected, they float upward 212 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:40,280 Speaker 1: to the surface and they wait to get fertilized. But 213 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: they have nothing to protect them, so the first twelve 214 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: hours that they're out there in development, they're real fragile. 215 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,880 Speaker 1: Mara actually describes these globules. She says this in her 216 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:51,840 Speaker 1: book and in our interview with her, and I like it. 217 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:55,600 Speaker 1: She says, they look like pink orange nerd candies, which 218 00:12:55,679 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: is pretty fun. Um and that gave me like a 219 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 1: really good picture because I I don't know about you, Robert, 220 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,959 Speaker 1: but I've never been to a beach area that has 221 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: coral reefs, and I grew up on the ocean, Um. 222 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,200 Speaker 1: I had not really experienced it until earlier this year 223 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: when I went to Jamaica and got to do some 224 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: snorkeling uh with the with my wife and see some 225 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: of it in action, and I was just really blown 226 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: away by it. Because it's one thing to see like 227 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:22,960 Speaker 1: the you know, the super HD footage and it's beautiful, 228 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:25,040 Speaker 1: but it seems like another world. It's like watching Avatar, 229 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,240 Speaker 1: but totally to actually poke around there and see it 230 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 1: in real life, it's it's quite amazing. So one of 231 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: the things we talked tomorrow about that no one quite 232 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:38,360 Speaker 1: has the exact answer to is how these corals are 233 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:42,080 Speaker 1: timing it so that they all spawn at the exact 234 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: same time every year. And there's a theory that the 235 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 1: solar they're they're taking solar cues or wind cues to 236 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 1: figure out the month that they should spawn in, and 237 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: then they're taking lunar cues somehow to figure out which 238 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:59,680 Speaker 1: day they should spawn. In Australian scientists have recently found out, however, 239 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: that when they're exposed to even tiny little waves, that 240 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 1: coral can break into identical pieces that can each develop 241 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:10,839 Speaker 1: their own larvae. So this is the clone process. It's 242 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 1: similar Their stem cells then reassemble and continue to develop. 243 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: So there are a lot of identical twin coral polyps 244 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: out there. But as we talk about with Mara, that's 245 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 1: not very that's not exactly a good thing if you 246 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 1: need diversity to sort of protect you from ecological problems. So, 247 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: but we have billions of naked embryos on the surface 248 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: of the ocean during these spawnings, there's a potential to 249 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: create even more clones. When they conducted this first experiment 250 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 1: that I was speaking of in Australia, fifty of the 251 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: embryos that they exposed fragmented and then reorganized so they 252 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: could develop larvae. So the cloning thing is is fairly 253 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:54,560 Speaker 1: prevalent now. Of those zooks algae corals, those are hermaphrodites 254 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: and they're basically both male and female. They can release 255 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 1: sperm and eggs. Some are only male and some are 256 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 1: only female UH. Some even fertilize their own eggs internally 257 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: if they can snatch up the sperm. This is called brooding. 258 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:14,680 Speaker 1: They also release fully developed larvae. Now, the sexuality of 259 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: these UH particular polyps tends to be consistent across the 260 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: different species of corals that we're talking about here. Another 261 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:29,680 Speaker 1: number seventy of the zooks corals also spawn eggs and 262 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: sperm for external fertilization. So the broadcast spawning we're talking 263 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: about is their majority of their reproductive process. So this 264 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: is this is contrary to the brooding that I was 265 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: speaking about earlier. Now, when species brewed like I'm talking 266 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: about this is when they're fertilizing their eggs internally, they 267 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:53,280 Speaker 1: can store the unfertilized ova for weeks at a time, 268 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: whereas spawning species requires this very specific time frame of 269 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: hours that we talked about with more Ara. Sometimes colonies 270 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: of different species spawn simultaneously. This is when hybridization occurs. 271 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,560 Speaker 1: We know that it happens, we just don't really know 272 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: the extent. And as we'll talk about with Mara, most 273 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: hybrids are sterile, but it's hopefully avoided. When most species 274 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: of polyps spend their time spawning at different intervals. Um, 275 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: we talk about that as well with particular kinds of species, 276 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: the boulder coral and what was the other one, lob 277 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 1: star coral, and and indeed there are also some some 278 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: interesting twists and turns with hybridization that I think everyone 279 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: will be rather delighted by. Yeah, and we were totally 280 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 1: surprised by two because it's brand new research. Another thing 281 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: that's super fascinating about this broadcast spawning It can happen 282 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 1: over vast distances. Corals can basically take extended sea voyages 283 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,040 Speaker 1: once they float to the top, and they can survive 284 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: for months before they fully integrate and sink back down 285 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: to the bottom. Now, when an egg does get fertilized, 286 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:06,720 Speaker 1: after the embryo forms, it's it actually swims, so so 287 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:08,919 Speaker 1: sinking isn't really the right term I should have used there. 288 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: It swims to the bottom to anchor itself. And scientists 289 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:18,359 Speaker 1: thought until the all coral reproduction was internal like this 290 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: brooding method. But then in Science magazine somebody published a 291 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: description of the mass spawning event at the Great Barrier reef. 292 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:28,640 Speaker 1: And here we are, now, you know, spending an entire 293 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 1: episode talking about it. So this is relatively new science 294 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:36,399 Speaker 1: to humans. A study in a Smithsonian article that I 295 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: read for this, it's called watching Coral sex, indicated that 296 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:44,919 Speaker 1: if corals spawn just fifteen minutes out of sinc with 297 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: their majority of the rest of their species, it greatly 298 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:52,440 Speaker 1: reduces their chance of reproductive success. So you know, this 299 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: is why it's so important that it happens all at 300 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,679 Speaker 1: the same time and that the area is protected a 301 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 1: lot of factors that go into the ecologe g Of 302 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:04,920 Speaker 1: keeping these reefs safe. Uh. And then to go along 303 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:09,960 Speaker 1: with Mara's nerd candy example, one of the other scientists 304 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,679 Speaker 1: described it as being a little bit like tapioca. That like, 305 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: you're basically floating in a sea of I think tapioca. 306 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 1: It's like swimming and bubble tea essentially. Yeah, that's a 307 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: good one. I like that bubble tea. All right, Well, 308 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:25,880 Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back, 309 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:37,360 Speaker 1: we're gonna call up Mara and discuss coral sex. Hi, Mara, 310 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:39,479 Speaker 1: thanks so much for coming on the show again for 311 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: a summertime discussion of corals. So we had such a 312 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: great time chatting with you before on the the Acidacs 313 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 1: episode that we recorded, so it's nice to have you 314 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:50,679 Speaker 1: back on to discuss corals. Thank you so much for 315 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 1: having me. I'm I'm really excited to be here and 316 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:54,879 Speaker 1: to be able to chat with you guys about definitely 317 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,640 Speaker 1: one of my favorite animals, which are corals. Soamara, I 318 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,000 Speaker 1: didn't realize this until almost five minutes ago. I've read 319 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: through the book. We've talked to you before, but you 320 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 1: have a background as a coral reef ecologist, right, that's right. Yeah, 321 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:14,200 Speaker 1: They're where I really um got started in my career 322 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,199 Speaker 1: doing me in science. So they hold a very special 323 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:21,160 Speaker 1: place in my heart. Corals and sharks. Okay, awesome, Well good, 324 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:25,119 Speaker 1: because we got a lot of questions because because quarrels 325 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 1: have a very strange reproductive practice. This is true, they do. 326 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 1: They're they're pretty amazing, especially given that they can't move, 327 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: and they are pretty simple animals that I don't like 328 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: to use the word simple, but you know, basically they're 329 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,680 Speaker 1: they're sort of this jelly like blob that sits with 330 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,879 Speaker 1: the extending little tentacles out of a little hard cup 331 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,679 Speaker 1: that they manufacture themselves. So for folks that there who 332 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: are familiar with finding nemo Um and know that he 333 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 1: lives in an anemone, which is uh, I almost messed 334 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 1: it up, and then with me uh, they're they're close 335 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: cousins of those animals, and so they fit in these 336 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,760 Speaker 1: little cups all day long with their tentacles outstretched too 337 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:13,520 Speaker 1: into the environment, sort of taking little particles out of 338 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 1: the water to feed on. But they have some other 339 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:20,199 Speaker 1: cool tricks up there. The sexual reproduction and corals is 340 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,520 Speaker 1: pretty amazing. Yeah, you you presented so well in the book. 341 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:27,120 Speaker 1: I almost almost hate to ask you describe to describe 342 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:29,359 Speaker 1: it here, you know, I'd almost rather encourage the readers 343 00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: to read it. But can you take just a few 344 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: minutes to describe for us the synchronized hotel orgy of 345 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: the corals. Sure have to. So again, corals can't move right, 346 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,240 Speaker 1: so they're stuck. They're cemented to the sea floor. So 347 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:47,879 Speaker 1: this means they can't go out in date to find 348 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:51,200 Speaker 1: their mates there. They have to allow their gammets, which 349 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: are their eggs and their sperm, to do the dating 350 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:57,439 Speaker 1: and meeting for them. And I should say there's two 351 00:20:57,480 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 1: types of coral and when I'm about to describe it, 352 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: does the big synchronized orgy. These are called broadcast spawners, 353 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: So they release both their sperm and their eggs into 354 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: the water column, and the best way to ensure that 355 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: their sperm and eggs are going to mix with sperm 356 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: and eggs of other corals and be able to make 357 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: the next generation is to time that release with their neighbors. 358 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: So if you imagine that corals are sort of sitting 359 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: in their little cups, and their cups sort of form 360 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 1: these big colonies, and then there's multiple colonies along the reefs, 361 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: it's kind of like thinking that, um, the sperm and 362 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:37,400 Speaker 1: eggs are are getting together in a hotel room, right, 363 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:40,360 Speaker 1: and these corals have to make sure that they're going 364 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,720 Speaker 1: to synchronize their mate their relief. But then it's also 365 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,640 Speaker 1: like that couple in that hotel room that synchronizing their 366 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,119 Speaker 1: release is also coordinating with their neighbors, maybe in the 367 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: two rooms on either side, and then those neighbors are 368 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:58,120 Speaker 1: also synchronizing with their neighbors, and so the whole floor 369 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,480 Speaker 1: of the hotel are all mean together and being able 370 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 1: to synchronize their climax exactly the same time. And then actually, 371 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: because there's miles and miles of reef and millions and 372 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,320 Speaker 1: millions of corals, you've actually got to blow it out 373 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: to imagine that every single hotel room across the the 374 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: entire city of New York is full of couples that 375 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:23,439 Speaker 1: are all climaxing exactly the same time. So it's pretty 376 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,399 Speaker 1: phenomenal when you think about the scale at which this 377 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:30,800 Speaker 1: synchronization is occurring. And you know, given uh sort of 378 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,439 Speaker 1: bar pop culture, and again I talked about you know, 379 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:36,399 Speaker 1: if you look at any cover of Cosmo, it's all 380 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: about how to you know, connect better with your partner. 381 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:40,879 Speaker 1: We we seem to struggle to do this on a 382 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: one on one basis. Meanwhile, corals are doing this across 383 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 1: millions of individuals, no problem, year after year, down to 384 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,399 Speaker 1: you know, really really fine timing. So we're talking within 385 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,160 Speaker 1: you know, within moments uh of of their their sort 386 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: of buddy colonies up and down the reef. And this 387 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: is a once a year occurrence, it is. So what 388 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,879 Speaker 1: happens is coral sort of spend the entire year celibates, 389 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: building up the energy and storing the energy to make 390 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:14,400 Speaker 1: these statty balls of spurn and eggs. So it's called 391 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:17,439 Speaker 1: a bundle. And the bundle looks like for those of 392 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: you who know nerd candies kind of a small pinkish 393 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:24,200 Speaker 1: orange colored spear, and it takes a lot of energies 394 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:27,320 Speaker 1: to pack all these eggs and sperms together, so they 395 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,040 Speaker 1: wait and again, Um, it's the one the year event, 396 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 1: and it normally happens um for different species. It'll happen 397 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:38,920 Speaker 1: within a two to three day window around the full moon, 398 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,359 Speaker 1: and it normally happens in the summertime, so there's likely 399 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: some water temperature cues. There's definitely cues from from the sunset. 400 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:53,520 Speaker 1: It often happens at night after sunset, and moon phase 401 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: also coordinates it around that that full moon time, so 402 00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:59,640 Speaker 1: there's a whole bunch of environmental cues that they're using 403 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 1: to kind of start to align and then and then 404 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:05,359 Speaker 1: let it all go. But it's yeah, so each coral 405 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 1: will only go once they've got one little sperm egg 406 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:12,880 Speaker 1: bundle to release and that's it. Uh So within a colony, 407 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,360 Speaker 1: you might have one or two days of different polyps 408 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: going off, but in general there's one peak night where 409 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: the vast majority of of all these animals are releasing 410 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,199 Speaker 1: at the same time. Now, of course there's a reason 411 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,440 Speaker 1: for all of this, So what what are the core 412 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:34,439 Speaker 1: advantages to this? Once a year sexual blowout. Yeah, so again, um, 413 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: it's really expensive to manufacture these, especially the eggs um 414 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,440 Speaker 1: and all the sperm, and you really want to make 415 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 1: sure that in the environment like an ocean where there's 416 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:48,640 Speaker 1: lots of currents and lots of predators, so that you 417 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: are getting your your sperm and eggs to mix with 418 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: other sperm and eggs from your fellow species so that 419 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 1: she can make next generation. And by coordinating the timing 420 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: really precisely, you up the odds that your sperm and 421 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 1: eggs are going to bump into another coral sperm and 422 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,199 Speaker 1: eggs and be able to fertilize and make make that 423 00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:13,200 Speaker 1: viable a little larvae. But it also helps to release 424 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: all these millions and millions of gammets all at once 425 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,840 Speaker 1: because it's sort of swamps out the predators as well, 426 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 1: and the sex facts of corals. That sort of starts 427 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:28,640 Speaker 1: really peacefully, and it's just really it's really quite a 428 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: miraculous event to witness and and folks can see this 429 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 1: because it happens on shaller breaths. You can take a 430 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:37,400 Speaker 1: flashlight and even just snorkele um down in the Caribbean 431 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 1: or off the Great Bay or reef and be able 432 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,680 Speaker 1: to actually watch this happen um. But it starts off 433 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:46,119 Speaker 1: really beautifully where these little bundles form, and then it's 434 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: sort of this slow relaf and and the sperm and 435 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,439 Speaker 1: eggs are buoyant, so they slowed up and it creates 436 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: sort of like the snowstorm underwater, but the snowflakes are 437 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: bright pink and float to the surface and it's it's 438 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,240 Speaker 1: really quite magical. And then all of a sudden it 439 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,399 Speaker 1: turns into this like crazy I think I refer to 440 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:09,119 Speaker 1: as like a rave where shrimper coming in and worms 441 00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:10,880 Speaker 1: are coming in, and fish are coming in, and then 442 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: bigger fish are coming eat the little fish that are 443 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: eating the coral. You know, it's it's chaos. And if 444 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 1: you're if you are diving down there, you stop, is 445 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 1: hitting your mask, it's going in your face. It's like 446 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,440 Speaker 1: bumping your regulator out of your mouth. I mean, it's 447 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:28,720 Speaker 1: like it's a wild all you can eat, say. And 448 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 1: so for the corals, it's helpful to know that everybody 449 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: else is releasing their stuff too, so that it's not 450 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:37,160 Speaker 1: just your sperm and eggs that are going to get 451 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,879 Speaker 1: sort of focused on. But hopefully you'll fatiate all the 452 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:43,080 Speaker 1: mouths out there, and a couple will make it to 453 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:46,000 Speaker 1: the surface where they can break apart and and sort 454 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,679 Speaker 1: of mix and and and form that next generation. So 455 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 1: doing it all at once has its benefits for a 456 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,719 Speaker 1: couple of reasons. So, Mara, I got a question just 457 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:59,359 Speaker 1: for clarification, can you explain for our audience what we 458 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: mean when we're talking about gam meats. Are we talking 459 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 1: about the sperm the eggs both? Is this the bundle 460 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:10,280 Speaker 1: we're referring to, right? Yeah, So gam meat is the 461 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,919 Speaker 1: scientific term for a sex cell, and it's either a 462 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:19,160 Speaker 1: sperm or an egg, so it counts for both. Yep. 463 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:23,720 Speaker 1: So the bundles are there gam meats because it's the 464 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: sperm and eggs um sort of tightly wrapped around each 465 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,240 Speaker 1: other in these in these little balls, and when they 466 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,560 Speaker 1: get to the surface, they actually break open and the 467 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,480 Speaker 1: sperm and multiple eggs. Do you have lots and lots 468 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 1: of sperm and lots and lots of eggs inside each 469 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:43,160 Speaker 1: bundle And when they break open at the surface, that's 470 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:46,480 Speaker 1: when the sperm and eggs can actually bump and mix 471 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,679 Speaker 1: with the sperm and eggs of other coral individual to 472 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:53,919 Speaker 1: make a new a new offspring. And one thing that 473 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: I think we should quickly clarify here too is you 474 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,639 Speaker 1: mentioned this already, but we're specifically talking about broadcast spawning 475 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:04,639 Speaker 1: coral reefs. There's other forms of reproduction for coral reefs, 476 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:09,160 Speaker 1: right right, Yeah, So corals are they're really cool animals. 477 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:12,680 Speaker 1: There's hundreds and hundreds of species of coral thousands, I think, 478 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,919 Speaker 1: and um the ones that build the big reef, the 479 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,200 Speaker 1: ones that we think of when we think about coral reefs, 480 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:23,119 Speaker 1: tend to be these broadcast spawners that do these mass 481 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:27,919 Speaker 1: um spawning events, these big orgies. There are others, however, 482 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: that are brooders, which mean that they release their sperm 483 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 1: into the environment, but they actually hold eggs so that 484 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:41,120 Speaker 1: the sperm have to come into the coral colony and fertilized. 485 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: There's also some corals that are so again the broadcast 486 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:51,719 Speaker 1: spawners are hermaphrodite. They're producing both um sex cells right 487 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:55,760 Speaker 1: spur and eggs. But there are some corals that the 488 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 1: colony is either female or male. They have separate sexes, 489 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:04,280 Speaker 1: in which case they'll release um into the environment the sperm, 490 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,720 Speaker 1: and then the females again hold the eggs and there's 491 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:13,080 Speaker 1: tons of varieties sort of in between. Um. I just 492 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 1: came back from a coral conference, the Big Coral Conference 493 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,440 Speaker 1: happens once every four years, and it was just last 494 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 1: week in Hawaii, and I thought, this great presentation by 495 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,400 Speaker 1: Dr Kristen Marhaber, who works out of Carmabi in Um 496 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: curse out and they're finding some corals that seem to 497 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:33,760 Speaker 1: be doing this weird kind of in between where they 498 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:37,160 Speaker 1: don't really brewed, but they're sort of holding the eggs 499 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 1: up in the tentacles but not really letting them go, 500 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:44,480 Speaker 1: so it's like it's funky, yeah, in between. So one 501 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:47,520 Speaker 1: thing with corals is that they do it all, and 502 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:49,720 Speaker 1: they seem to do it in lots of different ways 503 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: that we're still learning about. Huh. This seems like a 504 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: good opportunity for us to hone in on two particular 505 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: species you bring up in the book. Yeah. Indeed, you 506 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,400 Speaker 1: make a special mention of the the Lobe star coral 507 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: and the Boulder star coral, which I found this particularly 508 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 1: interesting because we're talking about this sort of this broadcast 509 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 1: orgy of reproduction here. But it seems like it doesn't 510 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:15,800 Speaker 1: pay to bump into just anybody in a broadcast orgy. 511 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: That's right. This is definitely true UM. And it's again 512 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: it's not something that we mammals tend to have to 513 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:28,720 Speaker 1: worry about because we are pretty certain of who it 514 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: is that we're meeting, which who are gammets, are sperm 515 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: and eggs are mixing with at the time effects. But 516 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: for corals, UM, they don't have that control. Right They 517 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: release their sperm and eggs into the water column, and 518 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: they're hoping that they do it in the right time 519 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 1: period so that it bumps into other sperm and eggs 520 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 1: of not only fit healthy other corals, but corals are 521 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: the right species, so coral. There are corals that are 522 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: very closely related, and the load and the Boulder star 523 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 1: are examples of that. And it is possible that if 524 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:07,840 Speaker 1: the sperm from say a low star coral bumps into 525 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: the egg of a boulder star coral, uh, you know, 526 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 1: they could they could fertilize that egg and a larveacaust form. 527 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:19,800 Speaker 1: That's a hybrid, and hybrids are not always the best 528 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 1: outcome for for species for a couple of reasons. And 529 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,160 Speaker 1: and folks maybe most familiar with UM sort of the 530 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:32,080 Speaker 1: cross between a horse and a donkey that creates a mule, right, 531 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,480 Speaker 1: mules or sterile like a mule can't go on to reproduce. 532 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 1: And so that sort of idea that hybrids of these 533 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,240 Speaker 1: genetic dead ends, um, it kind of defeats the whole 534 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,400 Speaker 1: purpose of having sex in the first place, right, which 535 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 1: is to create future offspring and hopefully that those offspring 536 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 1: will be fit and create the next generation, the next generation. 537 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: So hybrid sort of um squelched that in many cases. 538 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,520 Speaker 1: And I don't know if you guys want me to 539 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:03,800 Speaker 1: go into it, but there is actually some really cool 540 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,280 Speaker 1: work that has been done since the book came out 541 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 1: about some coral hybrid stuff. So we could we could 542 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 1: talk about that if you want, Yes, certainly, especially because 543 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 1: like one of the things that I'd like to clarify 544 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:19,760 Speaker 1: just from the book itself is like getting back to 545 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: the Lobes Star and the Boulder Star coral. There's very 546 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,920 Speaker 1: specific ways in which they are compatible, right, but it's 547 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:31,400 Speaker 1: not always so easy for one to fertilize the other. Right. 548 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: So because of this risk of forming hybrids, corals have 549 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 1: come up with a couple of of tactics and there 550 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 1: is a level of screening that happens at the level 551 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:47,720 Speaker 1: of the eggs um. Some eggs um some species are 552 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 1: very prude and they won't let sperm in from other 553 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:54,360 Speaker 1: species or they make it very difficult. But other eggs 554 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,440 Speaker 1: are are much more promiscuous if you will and are 555 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:02,080 Speaker 1: if a sperm from another speci users around, it can fertilize, 556 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: so to help kind of create more barriers to hybrids 557 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:10,720 Speaker 1: and really separate the species corals. The timing of these 558 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:16,400 Speaker 1: uh orgies is very very specific. So again the low 559 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:18,560 Speaker 1: Star coral and the Boulder star coral are a great 560 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,760 Speaker 1: example of this because they spawn on the same night. 561 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,480 Speaker 1: You know, they use the same environmental cues, the warming temperature, 562 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:30,120 Speaker 1: the moon phase, and then the timing of sunset. But 563 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: what happens is with the low Star coral there was 564 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 1: no site. With the Boulder Star coral, the Boulder star 565 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:43,760 Speaker 1: are the early birds, so they will start to release um. 566 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:47,280 Speaker 1: It's about two hours after sunset, so if you're down 567 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: in the Caribbean, sunsets may be around seven. So the 568 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 1: boulders first start to release their eggs around nine o'clock 569 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:59,080 Speaker 1: and it really is that precise year on year, it's 570 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,920 Speaker 1: within two to three minutes of the year before that, 571 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,720 Speaker 1: the same qulony will spawn at the same time. I mean, 572 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:08,239 Speaker 1: it's you absolutely could think you're your watches to it. 573 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,800 Speaker 1: It's it's pretty awesome. And then the low star coral 574 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,080 Speaker 1: is about an hour and a half delayed from the 575 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:18,239 Speaker 1: Boulder Star, so they would be you know, maybe ten 576 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:23,040 Speaker 1: thirty leaven ish, And that separation and time turns out 577 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:27,399 Speaker 1: to be just about the time it takes for the 578 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:31,400 Speaker 1: Boulder Star sperm fizzle out after about an hour and 579 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:34,560 Speaker 1: a half. So the fact that they go first at 580 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,680 Speaker 1: around you know, say, nine o'clock, by the time the 581 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: lobes star go off and they release their eggs, there's 582 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 1: not a lot of the Boulder Star sperm left that 583 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:47,719 Speaker 1: has a lot of you know much energy, you know, 584 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 1: to get out there and find their eggs um So 585 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: that hour and a half spacing seems to be just 586 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:58,279 Speaker 1: enough time to allow the first coral in this case 587 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 1: the Boulder Star, where the eggs to be fertilized by 588 00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:04,480 Speaker 1: its own sperm. And then by the time the next 589 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:07,319 Speaker 1: species goes off, there's there's really not too many of 590 00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:11,120 Speaker 1: their eggs left to be fertilized by any new sperm 591 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: coming into the picture from another species, and any of 592 00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,719 Speaker 1: the first sperm that are around sort of are a 593 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: little wizard at that point and unlikely to go and 594 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 1: fertilize the new eggs that are released by the second species. 595 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,080 Speaker 1: So I know it's a little a little complicated, but 596 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:31,960 Speaker 1: that's why I asked, Yeah, so tell us about this 597 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,440 Speaker 1: new hybrid research that you said that's come out, because 598 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: maybe it answers a question that I was going to 599 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:41,560 Speaker 1: ask you anyways, which is how frequently are coral hybrids 600 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:47,840 Speaker 1: actually sterile? Yeah, so it's a it's a really important question. 601 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 1: And Dr Nicole fogerty Um is studying this extensively and 602 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,319 Speaker 1: and this is her work at all I'll summarize here, 603 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,800 Speaker 1: and she again just presented sort of a new component 604 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:02,879 Speaker 1: of just last week at this Big Coral conference. And 605 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,360 Speaker 1: she's been setting this question in two species of endangered 606 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,120 Speaker 1: corals in the Caribbean called elk horn and staghorn. And 607 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,319 Speaker 1: these are the beautiful, big branching species that used to 608 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:18,160 Speaker 1: dominate some of the shallow reef crest environments and have 609 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,920 Speaker 1: been really quite wiped out. They were the first um 610 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:25,680 Speaker 1: invertebrates to ever go on to the endangered species list, 611 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:29,959 Speaker 1: I believe, or one of the few um so they've 612 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,520 Speaker 1: rarely been hammered and we're trying to figure out why 613 00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,239 Speaker 1: and try to figure out what this means for their reproduction. 614 00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:39,400 Speaker 1: And what Dr. Brogodies found is if you look at 615 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:44,319 Speaker 1: the fossil record, which is for corals really um pre robusts, 616 00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:47,600 Speaker 1: because they create these these hard skeletons, they actually are 617 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,040 Speaker 1: captured really well and represented very well in the fossil record. 618 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:54,960 Speaker 1: If you go back, you see that hybrids between elkhorn 619 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:57,839 Speaker 1: and staghorn are very rare. And they can look at 620 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,799 Speaker 1: this by shape, colony shape, in different um aspects of 621 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:04,200 Speaker 1: their morphology, sort of the shape and the way that 622 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:09,200 Speaker 1: um polyps are arranged. And hybrids, yeah, they're just they're 623 00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:12,560 Speaker 1: just not around very much. But if you come now 624 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:15,480 Speaker 1: into and we also know from early surveys in the 625 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:19,040 Speaker 1: seventies and eighties on coral reefs, there's not a lot 626 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:23,520 Speaker 1: of hybrids, but recently there are. We see a lot 627 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 1: of hybrids going on, and they've done some genetic tests 628 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,600 Speaker 1: and they're actually finding that these hybrids, so this is 629 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:33,640 Speaker 1: a cross between an elk horn and a staghorn makes 630 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 1: a hybrid. These hybrids are actually able to breathe with 631 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:42,440 Speaker 1: other hybrids and make a second lisperation that seems to 632 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:48,760 Speaker 1: be viable. So that's a really neat kind of twist 633 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:52,400 Speaker 1: on the whole Hybrids are always bad thing. Now the catches, 634 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:57,000 Speaker 1: we don't know if that second generation of hybrids is viable, 635 00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,440 Speaker 1: so we're still sort of waiting to see. You know this, 636 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:03,000 Speaker 1: this can happen where the first generation of hybrids is 637 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:08,040 Speaker 1: viable and seems really um fit and actually does very well. 638 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:14,640 Speaker 1: But then it's kids peter out. It is, it's like 639 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:17,719 Speaker 1: a it is, and it's in. What happens also is 640 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:23,719 Speaker 1: that these these these vigorous hybrids can often compete with 641 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:27,280 Speaker 1: their parents, right, So they're competing with the elk horns 642 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:30,360 Speaker 1: and the stag horns that maybe aren't doing as well. 643 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:34,040 Speaker 1: And if they start to take over those environments but 644 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:38,800 Speaker 1: they don't have the ability to reproduce successfully for multiple generation, 645 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:42,880 Speaker 1: then you wind up with hybrids actually being another threat 646 00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:47,080 Speaker 1: to the parent. Now, to put another spin on it, 647 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,839 Speaker 1: which is what corns love to do, these hybrids can 648 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:56,280 Speaker 1: also make back with the elk horn or with stag horns, 649 00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:59,799 Speaker 1: so you get what's called a back cross, which gets 650 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:02,440 Speaker 1: then you know, you, guys, your guys, show is stuff 651 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:05,640 Speaker 1: to blow your minds and getting really wa So wait, 652 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:08,960 Speaker 1: I'm trying to envision this, given that the elk horns 653 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:11,839 Speaker 1: and the stag horns release at different times on the 654 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:16,000 Speaker 1: same night, did the hybrids release like somewhere in the 655 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 1: middle there. You know, that's a really good question, and 656 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,359 Speaker 1: I I don't know the answer to that. They are 657 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:27,239 Speaker 1: going to be spotting the full moon this month. July 658 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,359 Speaker 1: is a big month for elk horns and stag horns 659 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:33,600 Speaker 1: July and August, so I can I will send you, 660 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:35,480 Speaker 1: guys an update or maybe we can throw it in 661 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:37,680 Speaker 1: the comments, but I will ask that sounds great down 662 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:40,359 Speaker 1: there doing the study right now. But that's a really 663 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:44,160 Speaker 1: good question. I'm not sure whose timing they take or 664 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:49,759 Speaker 1: if it's a combination there. Their shape is definitely um 665 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,960 Speaker 1: a range of in between the two parents, between the 666 00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:54,840 Speaker 1: elk horn and stag horn, that there's sort of a 667 00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:57,880 Speaker 1: whole variety of shapes that these hybrids seem to be taking. 668 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:03,200 Speaker 1: And when the hybrid back crosses, so when the um 669 00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:06,480 Speaker 1: the combo coral of of elk horn and stag horns 670 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:10,920 Speaker 1: then fertilizes or mixes with an elk horn or a 671 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:14,000 Speaker 1: pure you know, stag horn and make this sort of 672 00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:20,040 Speaker 1: back cross species um. They tend to have slightly different 673 00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:24,359 Speaker 1: shapes and sizes as well. So the good news on 674 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:28,200 Speaker 1: this is if there's not too much competition with the parents, 675 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:32,799 Speaker 1: and there's not too much back crossing, the little bit 676 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:36,359 Speaker 1: of gene mixing and the little bit of hybridization that's 677 00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:40,000 Speaker 1: happening could actually really help the species and could be 678 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:42,640 Speaker 1: a way that this species, the two species, the elkhorn 679 00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:46,439 Speaker 1: and the stag horn, are trying to adapt to these 680 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:50,480 Speaker 1: changing environments and are actually dealing with some of the impacts. 681 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:53,960 Speaker 1: It's one way that species may be evolving, and we 682 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:57,799 Speaker 1: do see some you know, Dr Brogody is starting to 683 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:02,760 Speaker 1: see some very preliminary evidence of higher disease resistance, higher 684 00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:05,920 Speaker 1: heat tolerance to deal with some of the global warming 685 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:11,160 Speaker 1: issues and mass teaching issues. This is a positive um 686 00:41:11,239 --> 00:41:14,240 Speaker 1: and and that we will be able to see new 687 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:19,840 Speaker 1: forms of these branching corals based on this hybridization. Or 688 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:22,720 Speaker 1: it could go the other way where again these hybrids 689 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:27,520 Speaker 1: actually wind up to be not viable multigeneration and multiple 690 00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:31,520 Speaker 1: generations down the line, and they wind up contributing to 691 00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:36,279 Speaker 1: the decline of the two parents species. So it's UM, 692 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:39,600 Speaker 1: it's something that she's studying really intently and watching, and 693 00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:43,000 Speaker 1: it's a fascinating UM sort of I don't know who. 694 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:47,759 Speaker 1: I don't know who to root for really runs, but 695 00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:49,920 Speaker 1: it's important for us to keep an eye on, especially 696 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:53,960 Speaker 1: given the threats to coral ecology that are going on. 697 00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:58,560 Speaker 1: So I've got there's a lot of biological sort of 698 00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:01,600 Speaker 1: hypothetical question for you, because you say in the book 699 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:04,000 Speaker 1: the same question that immediately popped into my head as 700 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:06,400 Speaker 1: I was reading it, which is, if corals don't have 701 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:11,279 Speaker 1: brains or eyes, how is it that they're seeing light? 702 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:15,760 Speaker 1: How is it that they're uh sensing lunar patterns things 703 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:20,319 Speaker 1: like that? Um? And my question was, we just did 704 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:25,440 Speaker 1: a piece here recently about new research that came out 705 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:29,799 Speaker 1: about two months ago on underwater slime and algae and 706 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:34,239 Speaker 1: that they're able to on a cellular level sense light 707 00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:38,080 Speaker 1: and move toward it. That like each cell on its 708 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:42,640 Speaker 1: own can quote see light and then like subsequently sort 709 00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:46,040 Speaker 1: of crawls forward. And I'm wondering if you think that 710 00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:51,440 Speaker 1: maybe is something like that possible with corals. That's fascinating. 711 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:53,959 Speaker 1: I will have to go and listen to your story 712 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,759 Speaker 1: because I don't know much about the the how that 713 00:42:57,880 --> 00:42:59,840 Speaker 1: kind of a slime can do that. That sounds of 714 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:07,880 Speaker 1: really cool. With corals, they definitely have light sensors, Um, 715 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,960 Speaker 1: I'm not up to speed on like the the detailed 716 00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:15,400 Speaker 1: physiology there for whether it's at a cellular level, whether 717 00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:20,880 Speaker 1: it's um sort of a very primitive kind of organelle 718 00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:23,520 Speaker 1: that that we see in some worms that can you know, 719 00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:27,160 Speaker 1: tell if a shadow moves across you know, light and dark. 720 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:30,120 Speaker 1: But they definitely definitely have a way of sensing the light. 721 00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:33,880 Speaker 1: But I'm not sure exactly how it works, to be honest, Um, 722 00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:35,840 Speaker 1: I can I can dig into that a little further. 723 00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:41,319 Speaker 1: But the reason why we know it's cued by light though, 724 00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:47,200 Speaker 1: and pretty specifically, is not only because the timing happens 725 00:43:47,239 --> 00:43:52,240 Speaker 1: after sunset year on year so precisely, but it's also 726 00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:56,840 Speaker 1: that we've done some experiments. Um. And these were initially 727 00:43:56,880 --> 00:44:03,120 Speaker 1: started by yeah, the garbage bags, right, so simple as 728 00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:07,280 Speaker 1: best in science and Dr Nancy Knowlton, who's now runs 729 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:12,279 Speaker 1: the the Marine Science Hall over at the Smithsonian. So 730 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,759 Speaker 1: when she was studying some of these systems, she was like, 731 00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:18,000 Speaker 1: all right, well, if we want to see whether or 732 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:22,000 Speaker 1: not these corals can actually fertilize one another, and what's 733 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:24,480 Speaker 1: going on between these different species. She looked at the 734 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:27,400 Speaker 1: Lobes and the Boulder star corals and was like, okay, 735 00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:30,240 Speaker 1: well they're delayed about an hour and a half apart. 736 00:44:30,719 --> 00:44:34,600 Speaker 1: So what would happen if we tricked the Lobes star coral, 737 00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:39,040 Speaker 1: which is the later spawner in the thinking sunset happened sooner. 738 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:43,279 Speaker 1: So they took colonies and they put black garbage bags 739 00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:47,320 Speaker 1: over them about an hour and a half before sunset, 740 00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:51,200 Speaker 1: so they sort of faked the corals out into thinking 741 00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:54,680 Speaker 1: that sunset had happened at Bay six o'clock rather than 742 00:44:54,719 --> 00:45:00,120 Speaker 1: seven thirty. So low and behold it right, and hour 743 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:02,239 Speaker 1: and a half later when they were que to go off, 744 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:04,759 Speaker 1: they went off. And what they were able to do 745 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:08,360 Speaker 1: by by kind of sort of shifting the time of 746 00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:13,240 Speaker 1: sunset earlier, they were able to actually get the Load 747 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:16,520 Speaker 1: Star coral and the Boulder Star coral colonies to spawn 748 00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:18,320 Speaker 1: at the same time, and then they were able to 749 00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:20,480 Speaker 1: check and see sort of what happened if if that 750 00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:24,480 Speaker 1: were to occur. So we know that the light queue 751 00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:26,960 Speaker 1: is key because if you if you sort of could 752 00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:32,320 Speaker 1: unquote mess with. When sunset happens, it literally shifts exactly 753 00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:35,240 Speaker 1: the timing of the release of the sperm and eggs. 754 00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:39,919 Speaker 1: So it was pretty cool. Indeed, now, in discussing these 755 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:44,640 Speaker 1: elaborate reproductive methods that the coral use, Um, there's a 756 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:46,520 Speaker 1: weakness in all of this right now, How does this 757 00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:51,360 Speaker 1: reproductive strategy make corals so vulnerable to pollution, climate change, 758 00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:54,960 Speaker 1: and these other influences that are are making so many 759 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:59,960 Speaker 1: of them threatened. Yeah, so there's a lot of reasons 760 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,359 Speaker 1: why corals are vulnerable to to these threats and why 761 00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:06,560 Speaker 1: they're being threatened. Um, but when it comes to their 762 00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:10,640 Speaker 1: sexual strategy. So this idea of the broadcast spotting these 763 00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:16,320 Speaker 1: mass orgies, the real issue is that it all depends 764 00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:19,720 Speaker 1: on everybody releasing their egg and sperm at the same time, 765 00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:23,560 Speaker 1: and that all these neighbors are coordinated across the reefs. 766 00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:28,279 Speaker 1: So we know that it's not only are there their 767 00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:32,040 Speaker 1: cues from the moon phase and the sunset, but as 768 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:36,560 Speaker 1: the actual release is happening, there's likely some some level 769 00:46:36,640 --> 00:46:41,879 Speaker 1: of chemical communication to really get that timing very very 770 00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:47,440 Speaker 1: tight and very exact. And what happens is corals are 771 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:52,200 Speaker 1: starting to decline due to threats such as overfishing um 772 00:46:52,239 --> 00:46:54,720 Speaker 1: which is creating more algae on the reefs, and there's 773 00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:58,560 Speaker 1: climate change which is warming the waters and acidifying the waters, 774 00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:01,680 Speaker 1: and all of these things um pollution and runoff that 775 00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:06,040 Speaker 1: they're wiping out corals. So coral colonies that are still 776 00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:11,160 Speaker 1: left are spaced farther and farther apart. This means that 777 00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:15,239 Speaker 1: their ability to really think up and their ability to 778 00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:18,759 Speaker 1: get their sperm egg bundles to meet and mix at 779 00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:22,239 Speaker 1: the surface is it's harder and harder to do that 780 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:25,000 Speaker 1: the farther apart their space. Again, if you think about 781 00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:29,320 Speaker 1: the hotel example, it's easier to coordinate with your partner 782 00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:32,600 Speaker 1: when you're right there with them. And it's definitely if 783 00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:35,480 Speaker 1: you were to try to coordinate with your neighbors, you know, 784 00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:37,200 Speaker 1: it would help to be able to see where they 785 00:47:37,239 --> 00:47:39,520 Speaker 1: were in the process and and and no kind of 786 00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:42,680 Speaker 1: what that timing was like so you could adjust. And 787 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:46,080 Speaker 1: the farther and farther apart these these species are the 788 00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:49,360 Speaker 1: coral colonies are spaced that the harder it is to do, 789 00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:52,960 Speaker 1: and this is this is known as density dependence. So 790 00:47:53,239 --> 00:47:56,960 Speaker 1: the the amount of corals in in proximity to each 791 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:01,319 Speaker 1: other actually affects how successful they of fertilization rates are, 792 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:05,520 Speaker 1: and the farther apart there's space, that level of fertilization 793 00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:09,880 Speaker 1: goes down. So it's sort of a double whammy. Not 794 00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:15,040 Speaker 1: only are you not only are we wiping out coral colonies, 795 00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:18,960 Speaker 1: you know, putting less less adults. Less adults are out 796 00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,319 Speaker 1: there able to spawn because they're dying, but the ones 797 00:48:22,360 --> 00:48:25,360 Speaker 1: that are left or space farther apart, and so there 798 00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:29,680 Speaker 1: are odds of having successful sex go down. So it 799 00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:39,080 Speaker 1: just winds up being a double whammy. Now, some listeners 800 00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:41,040 Speaker 1: might be wondering, well, if the lord, if the corals 801 00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:44,319 Speaker 1: can reproduce a sexually, then that's their backup plan, right, 802 00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:48,560 Speaker 1: Why doesn't cloning solve the problem? Yeah, And it's a 803 00:48:48,719 --> 00:48:53,960 Speaker 1: really good question, because coral colonies grow through a sexual reproduction. 804 00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:57,160 Speaker 1: So you start with this one little larvae that settles 805 00:48:57,200 --> 00:49:01,200 Speaker 1: down on the sea surface, will swim down, patched somewhere 806 00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:04,640 Speaker 1: on a hard upstrate on the hard bottom, rocky bottom, 807 00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:08,960 Speaker 1: but old reef and creep this one single cup with 808 00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:12,640 Speaker 1: this one polyp, and then that polyp will divide and 809 00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:15,400 Speaker 1: divide again and again and ace, and that's the a 810 00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:22,719 Speaker 1: sexual reproduction, it clones itself, but um clones are genetically identical, 811 00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:28,279 Speaker 1: so there's no diversity in that coral colony. All those 812 00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:33,040 Speaker 1: individuals are individuals that they have the exact same genetic identity. 813 00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:37,600 Speaker 1: So this helps the colony grow, and there's benefits to 814 00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:41,480 Speaker 1: being a big colony, but it doesn't allow the species 815 00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:46,400 Speaker 1: as a whole to have variety and genetic diversity. And 816 00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:51,880 Speaker 1: diversity is nature's insurance policy against all the changes that 817 00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:56,080 Speaker 1: are are rough against us. So if a new disease develops, 818 00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:59,520 Speaker 1: you need genetically diverse individuals in the population, some of 819 00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:03,520 Speaker 1: whom may have a natural resistance. If UM there's a 820 00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:08,359 Speaker 1: big shift in in UH, say predator or prey, say 821 00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:11,480 Speaker 1: there's there's a different food supply, you need individuals who 822 00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:17,400 Speaker 1: might have slightly different morphology or slightly different genetic ability 823 00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:20,400 Speaker 1: to digest a different type of food source so that 824 00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:23,840 Speaker 1: they can survive. So as these different changes occur in 825 00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:27,759 Speaker 1: the environment and different threasts arise, that genetic diversity is 826 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:32,280 Speaker 1: really critical that the species as a whole can survive. 827 00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:38,359 Speaker 1: And genetic diversity is created through sexual reproduction, not a 828 00:50:38,440 --> 00:50:42,520 Speaker 1: sexual reproduction, So it's when the sperm from one individual 829 00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:45,799 Speaker 1: mixes and meshes with the egg from another that a 830 00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:50,520 Speaker 1: whole new DNA blueprint is formed, and that is where 831 00:50:50,520 --> 00:50:55,000 Speaker 1: the diversity of genetic Uh, that is where the diversity 832 00:50:55,080 --> 00:51:01,440 Speaker 1: that these scs needs comes from. Without sex, there's no diversity. So, 833 00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:04,239 Speaker 1: given what we learned from you today about what's going 834 00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:07,560 Speaker 1: the new research that's going on with hybridization, I'm starting 835 00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:11,800 Speaker 1: to wonder now if maybe that's the role of hybridization 836 00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:18,239 Speaker 1: in some species is to further the diversity. Yeah, and 837 00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:21,120 Speaker 1: I think it might be. I think that's that's one 838 00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:25,440 Speaker 1: of the questions that Dr Folkody is really um digging 839 00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:30,239 Speaker 1: into to say, could it be that under certain circumstances, 840 00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:35,560 Speaker 1: hybridization does work to help increase that genetic diversity in 841 00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:40,240 Speaker 1: a way that allows for adaptation, that allows for species 842 00:51:40,280 --> 00:51:44,000 Speaker 1: to withstand a changing environment or changing threats so that 843 00:51:44,040 --> 00:51:47,480 Speaker 1: it can then move forward and maybe it'll form a 844 00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:51,520 Speaker 1: new species eventually that's you know, collected over time from 845 00:51:51,560 --> 00:51:54,960 Speaker 1: the genes from the two two parents prior to it, 846 00:51:55,120 --> 00:51:57,439 Speaker 1: you know, in this case of tag Horn and elk Horn. Yeah, 847 00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:01,359 Speaker 1: I think it's still it's possible, and that's what makes 848 00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:05,839 Speaker 1: it a really intriguing space to investigate Um, but we 849 00:52:05,840 --> 00:52:08,200 Speaker 1: we just don't know yet, but it absolutely is possible. 850 00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:12,240 Speaker 1: So where are we right now in terms of coral loss? 851 00:52:12,320 --> 00:52:14,200 Speaker 1: So well, what are we doing and what can we 852 00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:17,160 Speaker 1: do to fix the intor door at least to address 853 00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:23,440 Speaker 1: the problem. Oh yeah, so you know, this is where 854 00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:27,040 Speaker 1: I try to find that balance between staying optimistic while 855 00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:32,960 Speaker 1: also being really honest that the data coming in it's sobering. 856 00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:38,600 Speaker 1: So last week's conference again, Um, it's really alarming how 857 00:52:38,719 --> 00:52:43,320 Speaker 1: quickly we are losing coral reefs and they are being 858 00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:48,320 Speaker 1: hit by every It's sort of a perfect storm. So, Um, 859 00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:51,719 Speaker 1: we're losing them due to over fishing, which has removed 860 00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:54,200 Speaker 1: a lot of the grazers on the reefs, so the 861 00:52:54,239 --> 00:52:58,400 Speaker 1: equivalent of the cows that chomped back the seaweed. So 862 00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:01,439 Speaker 1: we're getting corals overgrown by seaweed because we've taken out 863 00:53:01,480 --> 00:53:05,879 Speaker 1: things like parrot fish and sea urchins. Um, we are 864 00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:11,560 Speaker 1: losing corals extremely quickly now to bleaching events. These are 865 00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:16,040 Speaker 1: um the result of global warming. It's when waters warm 866 00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:23,160 Speaker 1: corals exist naturally right at their edge of thermal tolerance. Um. 867 00:53:23,239 --> 00:53:25,720 Speaker 1: You know, they don't have air conditioning or heating systems 868 00:53:25,719 --> 00:53:28,760 Speaker 1: in their houses. So they live right at that perfect 869 00:53:28,800 --> 00:53:31,920 Speaker 1: window where they are just warm enough. And if you 870 00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:36,200 Speaker 1: crank up the heat of the ocean too much and 871 00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:40,160 Speaker 1: we're talking one to two degrees celsius, so not a 872 00:53:40,239 --> 00:53:46,839 Speaker 1: lot of change, coral stress and that stress um disrupts 873 00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:50,719 Speaker 1: a really unique grotationship that they have with a tiny 874 00:53:50,800 --> 00:53:56,520 Speaker 1: microscopic little algae called zose in celli. You can calm zoaks, 875 00:53:57,200 --> 00:54:00,239 Speaker 1: and these zooks are food factories for the coral. They 876 00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:03,960 Speaker 1: actually live inside the coral tissue and they photosynthathize just 877 00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:07,600 Speaker 1: like a tree um, turning sunlight into energy. And the 878 00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:11,640 Speaker 1: energy and the newt in the sort of uh nutrition 879 00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:15,720 Speaker 1: that those those in thelli produced are what the coral 880 00:54:15,800 --> 00:54:19,879 Speaker 1: can then use to have extra energy to build their 881 00:54:20,040 --> 00:54:24,799 Speaker 1: really massive and impressive skeletons. Because the truth is the 882 00:54:24,840 --> 00:54:28,480 Speaker 1: water environment where corals exist. The reason why that water 883 00:54:28,680 --> 00:54:33,920 Speaker 1: is like that amazing clear, beautiful tropical turquoise blue that 884 00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:36,560 Speaker 1: we all love to swim, swim through and see for 885 00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:41,040 Speaker 1: hundreds of feet because there's nothing in it. It's a desert, 886 00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:45,520 Speaker 1: which makes it ideal for them right right, which makes 887 00:54:45,560 --> 00:54:49,359 Speaker 1: it perfect for the this coral algae relationship because they 888 00:54:49,360 --> 00:54:51,400 Speaker 1: can make their own nutrients and be able to build 889 00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:56,000 Speaker 1: build these reefs and have really clean clear waters. And 890 00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:59,640 Speaker 1: when we throw pollution in there, it disrupts that that 891 00:54:59,719 --> 00:55:02,400 Speaker 1: really hips, and when we heat the water it especially 892 00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:06,400 Speaker 1: disrupts that relationship. And the bleaching is literally the coral 893 00:55:06,920 --> 00:55:11,200 Speaker 1: kicking out the zoaks and it turns the coral white. 894 00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:15,680 Speaker 1: They get their color from having these symbiotic algae in there, 895 00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:19,920 Speaker 1: and so when they bleach, they don't necessarily die. The 896 00:55:19,960 --> 00:55:23,440 Speaker 1: coral does not necessarily die right away. Sometimes they can recover, 897 00:55:24,239 --> 00:55:28,440 Speaker 1: but oftentimes they will die. And even if they do recover, 898 00:55:28,600 --> 00:55:33,719 Speaker 1: it can take them several years to regain those symbionts 899 00:55:33,800 --> 00:55:38,560 Speaker 1: and regain enough energy to them be able to reproduce again. 900 00:55:38,760 --> 00:55:41,920 Speaker 1: Producing those sperm egg bundles takes the long a lot 901 00:55:41,960 --> 00:55:45,719 Speaker 1: of energy. And you know, just like us, if we're 902 00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:49,399 Speaker 1: sick and we're not healthy, we're not going to do 903 00:55:49,680 --> 00:55:53,719 Speaker 1: the the extra things. You know, we're gonna every all 904 00:55:53,760 --> 00:55:56,400 Speaker 1: the energy we have go through just the basic survival. 905 00:55:56,960 --> 00:56:01,400 Speaker 1: And sex is not basic survival, so production of sperm 906 00:56:01,400 --> 00:56:04,920 Speaker 1: and eggs drops or the number of sperm, you know, 907 00:56:05,040 --> 00:56:08,279 Speaker 1: sperm and eggs that are produced will go down. So 908 00:56:08,440 --> 00:56:12,719 Speaker 1: all of these things and climate change especially UM is 909 00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:16,880 Speaker 1: really really threatening the reefs. The Great Beer Reefs off Australia, 910 00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:20,520 Speaker 1: the largest restructure in the world. UM. We just had 911 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:24,439 Speaker 1: the worst bleaching on record. UM. So it was their 912 00:56:24,520 --> 00:56:29,080 Speaker 1: summer right in February in March, and we are seeing 913 00:56:29,360 --> 00:56:32,880 Speaker 1: rates of severe bleaching that are just off the charts. 914 00:56:32,920 --> 00:56:35,200 Speaker 1: We've never seen it like this before. I mean we're 915 00:56:35,200 --> 00:56:41,280 Speaker 1: talking well over half the reef UM and that's really 916 00:56:41,280 --> 00:56:44,280 Speaker 1: really alarming. You know, some of these colonies are hundreds 917 00:56:44,320 --> 00:56:47,960 Speaker 1: of years old and if they go, it's going to 918 00:56:48,040 --> 00:56:51,680 Speaker 1: be a long time before that, you know, before a 919 00:56:51,719 --> 00:56:54,719 Speaker 1: new coral colony can can take over that role and 920 00:56:55,080 --> 00:56:58,760 Speaker 1: perform all of the benefits that that type of structure 921 00:56:59,200 --> 00:57:03,040 Speaker 1: can provide. Yeah, to clarify for our listeners, my understanding 922 00:57:03,160 --> 00:57:07,520 Speaker 1: is even at their growth rate when they're they're broadcast 923 00:57:07,560 --> 00:57:10,600 Speaker 1: spawning something like that would take thousands of years to 924 00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:17,040 Speaker 1: regrow a reef. Oh absolutely, I mean coral colonies are slow. 925 00:57:17,880 --> 00:57:20,640 Speaker 1: These are slow growing. Think of an old growth forest, 926 00:57:21,160 --> 00:57:23,920 Speaker 1: you know, where where your tallest trees are hundreds and 927 00:57:24,000 --> 00:57:27,240 Speaker 1: hundreds of years old. UM. To get that level of 928 00:57:27,320 --> 00:57:33,240 Speaker 1: perplexity takes for for centuries and centuries and to build 929 00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:35,960 Speaker 1: something as big as a grape baery reefs absolutely a 930 00:57:36,280 --> 00:57:39,760 Speaker 1: thousands you can drill down and scientists will core down 931 00:57:39,960 --> 00:57:43,160 Speaker 1: to see, you know, colonies that have built and stacked 932 00:57:43,240 --> 00:57:45,520 Speaker 1: up on top of each other over over time, and 933 00:57:45,520 --> 00:57:50,160 Speaker 1: it's thousands and thousands of years. So it's UM a slow, 934 00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:56,360 Speaker 1: long process that has worked really really well and has 935 00:57:56,400 --> 00:57:59,720 Speaker 1: allowed them to withstand quite big changes, you know in 936 00:57:59,800 --> 00:58:02,040 Speaker 1: the environment. I mean, we we've had big changes in 937 00:58:02,080 --> 00:58:06,160 Speaker 1: the past, but those changes haven't happened so quickly, and 938 00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:10,000 Speaker 1: so the problem with you know, climate change caused by humans, 939 00:58:10,200 --> 00:58:13,480 Speaker 1: caused by us, is that it's happening very very quickly, 940 00:58:13,920 --> 00:58:17,720 Speaker 1: and so the ability for these corals to adapt UM 941 00:58:17,920 --> 00:58:21,000 Speaker 1: seems to be pretty compromised. And we're seeing some pretty 942 00:58:22,320 --> 00:58:25,400 Speaker 1: pretty sad state of affairs. UM. I think there's over 943 00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:28,960 Speaker 1: six hundred species of coral now that are being considered 944 00:58:29,040 --> 00:58:34,360 Speaker 1: for threatened or endangered status UM because of the losses. 945 00:58:34,520 --> 00:58:39,040 Speaker 1: So that's that's a bummer. But there is some good news, UM, 946 00:58:39,080 --> 00:58:42,240 Speaker 1: you know, it's I definitely and we can talk about that, 947 00:58:42,520 --> 00:58:44,960 Speaker 1: UM for sure, because it's it's not the kind of 948 00:58:44,960 --> 00:58:49,000 Speaker 1: situation where we should throw our hands up and say, oh, well, um, 949 00:58:49,040 --> 00:58:51,400 Speaker 1: it's the bummer that my kids won't get to dive 950 00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:54,240 Speaker 1: on a cool reef, because that's that's not necessarily the case, 951 00:58:54,280 --> 00:58:58,400 Speaker 1: you know, the door is not closed. Um. With coral restoration, 952 00:58:59,440 --> 00:59:02,520 Speaker 1: uh and play pass where they're actually it's sort of 953 00:59:02,560 --> 00:59:05,520 Speaker 1: like I VS. For corals. They go out when the 954 00:59:05,760 --> 00:59:08,920 Speaker 1: when the corals spawn at night, and they they're collecting 955 00:59:08,960 --> 00:59:11,280 Speaker 1: some of the sperm and eggs and they're bringing them 956 00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:14,840 Speaker 1: back to labs um and and going through a whole 957 00:59:14,880 --> 00:59:19,360 Speaker 1: process that actually increases the fertilization rate. And then they're 958 00:59:19,400 --> 00:59:22,560 Speaker 1: rearing the larvae and then the juvenile corals up to 959 00:59:22,840 --> 00:59:25,800 Speaker 1: sort of a bigger size so that they'll they'll have 960 00:59:25,840 --> 00:59:28,720 Speaker 1: a better chance to survive on the reef and not 961 00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:32,400 Speaker 1: get overgrown by algae or not get eaten by a predator. 962 00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:35,360 Speaker 1: And then they outplant these corals and they're finding that 963 00:59:35,400 --> 00:59:37,800 Speaker 1: they're really successful and some of the ones that they've 964 00:59:37,840 --> 00:59:41,000 Speaker 1: done over the past two to three years, those corals 965 00:59:41,080 --> 00:59:45,040 Speaker 1: now are spawning in the wild, which is great. So 966 00:59:45,080 --> 00:59:48,760 Speaker 1: there's really neat um examples of coral farming for for 967 00:59:48,920 --> 00:59:52,360 Speaker 1: restoration that are are helping to sort of repopulate areas 968 00:59:52,360 --> 00:59:55,640 Speaker 1: that have been hit hard by by some of these events. 969 00:59:56,880 --> 01:00:00,480 Speaker 1: There's also um a lot more work in in attention 970 01:00:00,520 --> 01:00:05,640 Speaker 1: now and fishery management to protect herbivores. So like then, 971 01:00:05,720 --> 01:00:08,360 Speaker 1: these are the grazers the cows of the reefs. And 972 01:00:09,720 --> 01:00:11,640 Speaker 1: you know, for the listeners out there who do like 973 01:00:11,720 --> 01:00:15,880 Speaker 1: to eat fish, do not eat parrot fish. That's one 974 01:00:16,200 --> 01:00:19,520 Speaker 1: great thing you can do to help corald is encourage 975 01:00:19,520 --> 01:00:23,000 Speaker 1: folks to leave parrot fish um on the reefs where 976 01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:25,280 Speaker 1: they can be doing their job to eat back this algae. 977 01:00:25,800 --> 01:00:29,520 Speaker 1: And you know, we can talk more extensively. There's some 978 01:00:29,600 --> 01:00:33,200 Speaker 1: great resources out there, but you know, using tourism dollars 979 01:00:33,200 --> 01:00:34,760 Speaker 1: if you want to go to the Caribbean or go 980 01:00:34,800 --> 01:00:38,959 Speaker 1: to the great theories, support those countries that have good 981 01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:43,680 Speaker 1: management and plate that do abide by certain fisheries policies, 982 01:00:43,680 --> 01:00:48,120 Speaker 1: that do have protected areas, that do enforce their their 983 01:00:48,160 --> 01:00:51,840 Speaker 1: pollution and clean water rules so that the reefs there 984 01:00:51,880 --> 01:00:56,120 Speaker 1: are given the best chance they can. And we have 985 01:00:56,280 --> 01:01:01,960 Speaker 1: seen that while we see that local management can make 986 01:01:02,000 --> 01:01:07,480 Speaker 1: a difference, it's absolutely a way to help corals resist 987 01:01:07,520 --> 01:01:11,600 Speaker 1: and get through some of these these challenges. That said, 988 01:01:11,640 --> 01:01:16,280 Speaker 1: without addressing climate change, there's no way. So we have 989 01:01:16,480 --> 01:01:19,640 Speaker 1: to deal with climate change. We have to support you know, 990 01:01:19,880 --> 01:01:24,320 Speaker 1: legislators and policies that are really progressive at this stage, 991 01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:30,360 Speaker 1: and there's fantastic proposals out there, there's great clean energy technologies. 992 01:01:30,920 --> 01:01:33,760 Speaker 1: Really it's political will at this point, and that actually 993 01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:37,400 Speaker 1: can be a very hopeful thing because that means all 994 01:01:37,440 --> 01:01:40,040 Speaker 1: of us we get together kind of like the corals do, 995 01:01:40,160 --> 01:01:44,760 Speaker 1: and synchronize our actions. We can actually turn turn down 996 01:01:46,080 --> 01:01:49,000 Speaker 1: and try to change the tide on this um. And 997 01:01:49,040 --> 01:01:53,520 Speaker 1: it's really important that we do so. So that I'm 998 01:01:53,520 --> 01:01:56,120 Speaker 1: trying to think of I like, that's that's a nice 999 01:01:56,160 --> 01:01:58,400 Speaker 1: boat to put on. It is that like for us 1000 01:01:58,400 --> 01:02:00,600 Speaker 1: to be able to help them out so that we 1001 01:02:00,640 --> 01:02:03,920 Speaker 1: can continue to have this ecosystem together. We need to 1002 01:02:03,960 --> 01:02:07,680 Speaker 1: sort of learn how to behave like them. Yeah, sink 1003 01:02:07,800 --> 01:02:12,800 Speaker 1: sink up a bit for bigger impact. Another, I know, 1004 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:16,200 Speaker 1: you know, it's always nice to give very practical things. Um. 1005 01:02:16,240 --> 01:02:21,000 Speaker 1: Another really important uh, especially coming into summer here in 1006 01:02:21,040 --> 01:02:23,960 Speaker 1: the Northern Hemisphere that folks can do is when you 1007 01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:26,680 Speaker 1: go to the beach, if you are swimming or diving 1008 01:02:26,720 --> 01:02:32,360 Speaker 1: in areas around coral reefs, don't use sunscreen with oxybenzonate 1009 01:02:33,680 --> 01:02:38,120 Speaker 1: benzonate excuse me, oxybenzon e is um oxybenzone I think 1010 01:02:38,160 --> 01:02:40,880 Speaker 1: it's also called They're finding more and more that the 1011 01:02:40,920 --> 01:02:45,680 Speaker 1: impact of sunscreen, especially very sort of shallow bays with 1012 01:02:45,800 --> 01:02:49,760 Speaker 1: lots of tourists is significant. And again that's a local 1013 01:02:49,800 --> 01:02:52,840 Speaker 1: impact we can all be much more conscious of. And 1014 01:02:52,840 --> 01:02:56,000 Speaker 1: if you just google you know, coral safe sunscreen, you'll 1015 01:02:56,160 --> 01:02:58,720 Speaker 1: there's you know, tons that come up. Um, this is 1016 01:02:58,760 --> 01:03:01,440 Speaker 1: new work that's been done. We we just didn't realize 1017 01:03:02,160 --> 01:03:04,680 Speaker 1: how sensitive again that that coral's work to some of 1018 01:03:04,720 --> 01:03:08,440 Speaker 1: these chemical inputs. So just be smart about your son 1019 01:03:08,520 --> 01:03:11,880 Speaker 1: screen choice. That's a really simple way, um, to try 1020 01:03:11,920 --> 01:03:15,000 Speaker 1: to be more conscious and give give corals a bit 1021 01:03:15,040 --> 01:03:18,280 Speaker 1: of a leg up. Cool. And is is there a 1022 01:03:18,280 --> 01:03:23,480 Speaker 1: particular organization coral advocacy group that that that one should 1023 01:03:23,480 --> 01:03:26,880 Speaker 1: follow or even you know, contribute to monetarily that can 1024 01:03:26,920 --> 01:03:31,400 Speaker 1: also help. Well, those are great, that's a really great question. 1025 01:03:31,400 --> 01:03:35,040 Speaker 1: There there are several really excellent groups out there that 1026 01:03:35,120 --> 01:03:39,480 Speaker 1: are doing wonderful work. Um. There's a group called REEF, 1027 01:03:39,520 --> 01:03:45,000 Speaker 1: which is the Reef Environmental and Education Foundation. They do 1028 01:03:45,120 --> 01:03:48,800 Speaker 1: a lot of science but also volunteer work so folks 1029 01:03:48,840 --> 01:03:53,280 Speaker 1: can go check out reef dot org. UM there's choral moniting, 1030 01:03:53,480 --> 01:03:57,840 Speaker 1: monitoring networks and groups like the Nature Conservancy and others, 1031 01:03:58,880 --> 01:04:02,400 Speaker 1: especially in the field of Nature Conservancy in the US 1032 01:04:02,480 --> 01:04:05,880 Speaker 1: Virgin Islands in the Nature Conservancy of Florida are do 1033 01:04:06,080 --> 01:04:11,280 Speaker 1: call on on volunteers to help UM monitor for bleaching. 1034 01:04:11,400 --> 01:04:14,080 Speaker 1: So if you're someone who goes diving or snorkeling or 1035 01:04:14,080 --> 01:04:17,000 Speaker 1: wants to take a trip, you can go and report 1036 01:04:17,080 --> 01:04:19,160 Speaker 1: what you've seen so that we can help keep track 1037 01:04:19,680 --> 01:04:23,440 Speaker 1: of where bleachings occurring and and try to understand those 1038 01:04:23,480 --> 01:04:27,200 Speaker 1: patterns better. So I think it's called Coral Reef Watch, 1039 01:04:27,880 --> 01:04:30,720 Speaker 1: and I believe it's run UM by Noah, which is 1040 01:04:30,840 --> 01:04:35,800 Speaker 1: the you know, the US government's federal arm that studies oceans. 1041 01:04:35,800 --> 01:04:38,760 Speaker 1: But again, folks like the Nature Conservancy I know, helped 1042 01:04:38,800 --> 01:04:43,960 Speaker 1: train volunteers to execute on that program. So those are 1043 01:04:43,960 --> 01:04:46,480 Speaker 1: those are some that come to mind that are doing 1044 01:04:46,600 --> 01:04:51,720 Speaker 1: you know, direct work with corals UM. There's other great 1045 01:04:51,760 --> 01:04:55,920 Speaker 1: work by UM groups like Moat Marine Lab in Florida 1046 01:04:56,560 --> 01:05:00,640 Speaker 1: that are doing some of these UM farming and restoration techniques. 1047 01:05:01,160 --> 01:05:03,760 Speaker 1: So if you if you're sort of more towards wanting 1048 01:05:03,800 --> 01:05:07,280 Speaker 1: to support some of the science behind how we're studying 1049 01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:09,640 Speaker 1: and learning there. There are a great a great place 1050 01:05:09,680 --> 01:05:12,600 Speaker 1: to look. There's a lot, but I would say that, 1051 01:05:12,880 --> 01:05:16,640 Speaker 1: um that those are the ones that kind of immediately 1052 01:05:16,720 --> 01:05:21,600 Speaker 1: pops pop into my head. Um. Oh there's another there's 1053 01:05:21,640 --> 01:05:26,680 Speaker 1: a wonderful initiative by um uh the Weight Foundation called 1054 01:05:26,680 --> 01:05:31,320 Speaker 1: the Blue Halo Initiative, and this was initially started by 1055 01:05:31,360 --> 01:05:36,680 Speaker 1: a woman named actor Ayana Johnson and they it's island 1056 01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:42,640 Speaker 1: wide marine policy UM in marine sort of management for 1057 01:05:42,840 --> 01:05:45,440 Speaker 1: Caribbean countries. At this point it's in the Caribbean, but 1058 01:05:45,520 --> 01:05:49,760 Speaker 1: it's really great because it's it combines education and outreach, 1059 01:05:49,800 --> 01:05:53,640 Speaker 1: it combines fisheries management, and it combines sort of typical 1060 01:05:53,640 --> 01:05:57,240 Speaker 1: conservation all into one, so that these island governments are 1061 01:05:57,280 --> 01:06:02,880 Speaker 1: actually implementing a very holistic policy that works to protect 1062 01:06:02,960 --> 01:06:06,960 Speaker 1: their waters but also you know, support fisher livelihoods, but 1063 01:06:07,160 --> 01:06:10,000 Speaker 1: make sure that they're they're taking all interest into account. 1064 01:06:10,360 --> 01:06:13,600 Speaker 1: So that's another really neat initiative, UM to look into 1065 01:06:13,760 --> 01:06:17,080 Speaker 1: or again see where the Blue Halo projects are and 1066 01:06:17,240 --> 01:06:20,400 Speaker 1: support going to those countries, um for you know, for 1067 01:06:20,480 --> 01:06:24,120 Speaker 1: your vacation, because they're ones that you know, UM, your 1068 01:06:24,200 --> 01:06:28,080 Speaker 1: your tax, your tourism tax is going to two governments 1069 01:06:28,080 --> 01:06:31,680 Speaker 1: that are really trying to do the right thing. Um. 1070 01:06:31,520 --> 01:06:36,640 Speaker 1: I'm trying to think if anything else comes to mind. Um, 1071 01:06:36,680 --> 01:06:39,240 Speaker 1: well that if any additional ones come up, you can 1072 01:06:39,280 --> 01:06:41,919 Speaker 1: always you shoot them to us via email and will 1073 01:06:42,040 --> 01:06:44,040 Speaker 1: include them, uh you know on the landing Pigs for 1074 01:06:44,040 --> 01:06:47,320 Speaker 1: the episode. Yeah, there's I think there is. Um. The 1075 01:06:47,400 --> 01:06:51,240 Speaker 1: last one I'd say is there is the Coral Restoration Foundation, 1076 01:06:51,880 --> 01:06:55,120 Speaker 1: which is I think just Coral Restoration dot org. And 1077 01:06:55,120 --> 01:06:59,600 Speaker 1: they do some really great work as well, um in 1078 01:06:59,720 --> 01:07:03,360 Speaker 1: terms of trying to again farm out corald and I 1079 01:07:03,360 --> 01:07:06,120 Speaker 1: think they might also have some volunteer opportunities, which is 1080 01:07:06,280 --> 01:07:08,760 Speaker 1: it's fun. I mean, they're it's neat to get to 1081 01:07:08,800 --> 01:07:12,200 Speaker 1: go and spend your vacation helping to grow baby corals 1082 01:07:12,280 --> 01:07:14,840 Speaker 1: or outplant them honor Reef or ten to ones that 1083 01:07:14,880 --> 01:07:17,120 Speaker 1: are out there. It's it's a nice nice way to 1084 01:07:17,160 --> 01:07:19,840 Speaker 1: really feel like you're just like going and doing um 1085 01:07:20,520 --> 01:07:22,800 Speaker 1: tree plantings. On Earth Day you can go do coral 1086 01:07:22,840 --> 01:07:27,120 Speaker 1: plant things and and help reef to recover cool. Well, Um, 1087 01:07:27,160 --> 01:07:28,560 Speaker 1: is there anything else you want to get out there 1088 01:07:28,600 --> 01:07:34,040 Speaker 1: before we close it up here? Um? Um, I don't 1089 01:07:34,160 --> 01:07:38,680 Speaker 1: think so. Just for folks to know that unlike so 1090 01:07:38,800 --> 01:07:42,960 Speaker 1: much sex in the sea, coral spawning is something we 1091 01:07:43,000 --> 01:07:48,000 Speaker 1: can actually see pretty easily. Again, it happens in the shallows. 1092 01:07:48,680 --> 01:07:51,120 Speaker 1: You just need a mask, you don't even need thin 1093 01:07:52,320 --> 01:07:55,280 Speaker 1: go right off shore. There's lots of places in the 1094 01:07:55,280 --> 01:07:57,600 Speaker 1: world that are eating, you know, faith and easy to 1095 01:07:57,640 --> 01:07:59,920 Speaker 1: get to and and you can just swim out with 1096 01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:04,160 Speaker 1: a flashlight water you know, waterproof flashlight. UM, And you 1097 01:08:04,200 --> 01:08:06,640 Speaker 1: can watch this. It happens right after sunset, and it's 1098 01:08:06,680 --> 01:08:10,200 Speaker 1: starting now, I mean from now through October and the 1099 01:08:10,200 --> 01:08:13,720 Speaker 1: Caribbean there will be different mass spawning events. And if 1100 01:08:13,760 --> 01:08:17,000 Speaker 1: you go online and google them, there are schedules and 1101 01:08:17,080 --> 01:08:20,200 Speaker 1: you can go and and watch this happen. And it 1102 01:08:20,320 --> 01:08:25,800 Speaker 1: really is um. Not only is it magical and sort 1103 01:08:25,840 --> 01:08:31,160 Speaker 1: of mystical and ethereal and just how it looks visually, 1104 01:08:31,320 --> 01:08:37,120 Speaker 1: but there's something that I find incredibly uplifting and inspiring 1105 01:08:37,880 --> 01:08:41,840 Speaker 1: and knowing that despite all the threats, despite all the 1106 01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:46,760 Speaker 1: negative impacts that we are having on these animals, every year, 1107 01:08:47,840 --> 01:08:52,480 Speaker 1: they continue to soldier on. These mass spawnings still are happening, 1108 01:08:53,120 --> 01:08:56,000 Speaker 1: and that rhythm of nature that has been established for 1109 01:08:56,200 --> 01:09:01,559 Speaker 1: thousands and thousands of years continues to to hold strong 1110 01:09:02,240 --> 01:09:06,479 Speaker 1: so that the next generation can be possible. And you 1111 01:09:06,520 --> 01:09:09,360 Speaker 1: can witness that, and you can see all that potential 1112 01:09:09,479 --> 01:09:12,479 Speaker 1: and all that hope floating up right before your eyes. 1113 01:09:12,600 --> 01:09:16,280 Speaker 1: And it's um to me, it's it's what it keeps 1114 01:09:16,320 --> 01:09:21,320 Speaker 1: me going cool. Well. Sex and the Cy is the book. 1115 01:09:21,600 --> 01:09:25,200 Speaker 1: It is currently out on hardcover, e book, audio book, 1116 01:09:25,800 --> 01:09:28,840 Speaker 1: and um. As we've stressed a several different times on 1117 01:09:28,880 --> 01:09:32,840 Speaker 1: the podcast on past podcast episodes, it's just a delightful, 1118 01:09:32,960 --> 01:09:36,799 Speaker 1: insightful read full of just some mind blowing but also 1119 01:09:37,760 --> 01:09:41,599 Speaker 1: entertaining content. We've recommended it as as just a perfect 1120 01:09:41,680 --> 01:09:44,559 Speaker 1: bit of summer reading for our listeners. Yeah. In fact, 1121 01:09:45,120 --> 01:09:47,280 Speaker 1: we just did our summer reading episode a couple of 1122 01:09:47,280 --> 01:09:50,320 Speaker 1: weeks ago, and uh, we recommended this book Mara to 1123 01:09:50,400 --> 01:09:53,320 Speaker 1: our listeners. And and also I just want to say 1124 01:09:53,360 --> 01:09:56,360 Speaker 1: that I really appreciate the work that you put into 1125 01:09:56,400 --> 01:10:01,439 Speaker 1: your prose in this book and just analogies and similes 1126 01:10:01,439 --> 01:10:04,120 Speaker 1: and metaphors. The kind of work that you do there 1127 01:10:04,320 --> 01:10:07,200 Speaker 1: makes it so much more readable than the hundreds of 1128 01:10:07,280 --> 01:10:11,080 Speaker 1: articles that we read on similar topics and really kind 1129 01:10:11,080 --> 01:10:15,920 Speaker 1: of picturesque too. Yeah, oh, thank you. I appreciate that 1130 01:10:16,080 --> 01:10:18,720 Speaker 1: and appreciate so much to support you guys have have 1131 01:10:18,840 --> 01:10:21,680 Speaker 1: given for it, and I'm I'm just hopeful that your 1132 01:10:21,720 --> 01:10:26,000 Speaker 1: listeners will find it entertaining and inspiring and hopefully some 1133 01:10:26,080 --> 01:10:31,200 Speaker 1: really good cocktail party fodder. So definitely unfacts around the barbecue, 1134 01:10:34,560 --> 01:10:37,000 Speaker 1: all right. So there you have it, a whole lot 1135 01:10:37,439 --> 01:10:40,360 Speaker 1: of coral biology, a whole lot of coral sex, if 1136 01:10:40,360 --> 01:10:45,200 Speaker 1: you will, and some some sobering but indeed hopefully optimistic 1137 01:10:45,600 --> 01:10:49,160 Speaker 1: information about where we are in terms of coral loss 1138 01:10:49,640 --> 01:10:54,080 Speaker 1: and um readjusting pivoting if you will, to try and 1139 01:10:54,200 --> 01:10:56,960 Speaker 1: um and and and save these species that do so 1140 01:10:57,040 --> 01:10:58,800 Speaker 1: much for our ecology. And one of the things that 1141 01:10:58,840 --> 01:11:02,160 Speaker 1: I really loved about the interview is that while we 1142 01:11:02,200 --> 01:11:04,679 Speaker 1: had done research ahead of time and prepton, we'd read 1143 01:11:04,720 --> 01:11:06,760 Speaker 1: her book, and we were we were ready to have 1144 01:11:06,800 --> 01:11:09,760 Speaker 1: this conversation. You know, Mara in just the last week 1145 01:11:09,800 --> 01:11:12,400 Speaker 1: could already lived new stuff because the science is moving 1146 01:11:12,479 --> 01:11:15,840 Speaker 1: so fast. So you heard it here first, folks, or 1147 01:11:16,120 --> 01:11:18,160 Speaker 1: maybe maybe there were some articles that came out of 1148 01:11:18,160 --> 01:11:21,040 Speaker 1: that conference she was mentioning. But you know, I'm glad 1149 01:11:21,040 --> 01:11:22,920 Speaker 1: that we were able to talk about all these changes 1150 01:11:22,920 --> 01:11:27,080 Speaker 1: with hybridization that scientists are realizing about. Indeed, yeah, some 1151 01:11:27,080 --> 01:11:29,160 Speaker 1: some some really cool data from the book and and 1152 01:11:29,160 --> 01:11:31,000 Speaker 1: and some stuff that has just come out in the 1153 01:11:31,040 --> 01:11:34,040 Speaker 1: last couple of weeks. So okay, you out there. Maybe 1154 01:11:34,120 --> 01:11:37,360 Speaker 1: you have an experience like Robert where he went to Jamaica. 1155 01:11:37,560 --> 01:11:40,680 Speaker 1: Have you been up closing personal with coral reefs? Tell 1156 01:11:40,760 --> 01:11:43,479 Speaker 1: us about it based sent us your pictures, let us 1157 01:11:43,479 --> 01:11:46,840 Speaker 1: know what you think about the coloral bleaching effects that 1158 01:11:46,840 --> 01:11:50,160 Speaker 1: are going on. You can do that on social media. 1159 01:11:50,280 --> 01:11:52,599 Speaker 1: We are all over the place on social media. We're 1160 01:11:52,640 --> 01:11:55,679 Speaker 1: lousy with social media, as Josh Clark likes to say. 1161 01:11:55,800 --> 01:12:01,519 Speaker 1: We're on Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, and Instagram as Blow the Mind. 1162 01:12:01,640 --> 01:12:04,120 Speaker 1: And you can always visit us at our home base 1163 01:12:04,240 --> 01:12:06,640 Speaker 1: at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. And I 1164 01:12:06,640 --> 01:12:09,480 Speaker 1: want to throw into you know, with Facebook, the algorithm 1165 01:12:09,560 --> 01:12:13,360 Speaker 1: is always changing. Uh, if you would visit us Blow 1166 01:12:13,400 --> 01:12:17,240 Speaker 1: the Mind on Facebook, visit us there, make sure that 1167 01:12:17,280 --> 01:12:19,880 Speaker 1: you're subscribed, but also make sure that you've hit the 1168 01:12:19,880 --> 01:12:22,000 Speaker 1: adjustment so that we show up in your feed, because 1169 01:12:22,000 --> 01:12:24,000 Speaker 1: that's going to ensure that no matter what changes in 1170 01:12:24,000 --> 01:12:27,320 Speaker 1: the Facebook algorithm, we can still get our content to do. Yeah, 1171 01:12:27,400 --> 01:12:29,479 Speaker 1: and basically this is so that you can be updated 1172 01:12:29,479 --> 01:12:31,880 Speaker 1: whenever a new podcast episode comes out, or we can 1173 01:12:31,960 --> 01:12:34,640 Speaker 1: let you know when Robert or I or Joe have 1174 01:12:34,760 --> 01:12:37,200 Speaker 1: recorded a video about something related to the show or 1175 01:12:37,240 --> 01:12:39,800 Speaker 1: published an article. And if you're fat up with all 1176 01:12:39,840 --> 01:12:42,840 Speaker 1: the social media stuff, as one can can be in 1177 01:12:42,880 --> 01:12:45,320 Speaker 1: this day and age, there's always email. That's the way 1178 01:12:45,360 --> 01:12:48,840 Speaker 1: to get something directly to us, no in between third party, 1179 01:12:48,880 --> 01:12:51,160 Speaker 1: and you can reach us via email at blow the 1180 01:12:51,200 --> 01:13:02,640 Speaker 1: Mind at how stuff works dot com for more on 1181 01:13:02,720 --> 01:13:05,160 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics, because it how stuff 1182 01:13:05,200 --> 01:13:17,920 Speaker 1: works dot com. The bigger Man