1 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from housetop works 2 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:16,280 Speaker 1: dot com. For corals that live beneath to see their 3 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:20,119 Speaker 1: days are marked by celibacy, excepting one night when the 4 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: moon is just right, they engage in a million strong orgy. 5 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: But for them to secure the prize, corals must be 6 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: ever wise, for there is a catch. In order to dispatch, 7 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 1: their orgasms must be synchronized. Hey, welcome to stuff to 8 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:40,279 Speaker 1: blow your mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm 9 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,480 Speaker 1: Christian Seger. And that may have sounded like the Dr. 10 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: Seuss version of Coral Sex, but actually it was a 11 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 1: bit from mar j Hart Sex in the Sea, which 12 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: we've talked about on the show before and we're gonna 13 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: do again this episode. Yeah, it's a great book. We 14 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: talked about it in our previous episode that was devoted 15 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: to the weird sexual ways of the Asso Docks, the 16 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: bone Worm, the bone eating worm of Ocean, And in 17 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: that episode, Corals came up and we said, hey, there's 18 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff to discuss here. Why don't we 19 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: just have you back on in the summer, We'll do 20 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 1: a whole episode on corals, and we wanted to time 21 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: it for this summer because we're in corals spawning season 22 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 1: right now, as mar will discuss with us. So the 23 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: way this episode is going to be set up is 24 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: we're gonna give you just like a brief primer on 25 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: corals and their reproduction, and then we're gonna talk tomorrow 26 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 1: because she's the expert on this, and we really get 27 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: into all the details, especially because Mara just got back 28 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: a week ago from the what sounds like the world's 29 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: biggest conference on coral ecology, so she had a lot 30 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: of like groundbreaking news for us. Yeah, some of some 31 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: of it rather sobering, but some of it very exciting 32 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: as well. You know, I think one of the big 33 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: tay comes here that I got out of the research 34 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: that I hope that that that listeners get to is 35 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: this idea that and I feel like this sometimes lost 36 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: in our media absorption of the information, is that coral 37 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: reefs corals are not just like a background organism. They 38 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: are the bedrock of these ecological systems, making life possible 39 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: in areas that would otherwise just be barren and lifeless. 40 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: I think for a lot of people, the way that 41 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: they think about them is almost as if that they're 42 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,519 Speaker 1: like plant life and I have to admit, even for myself, 43 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: until we sat down and really did the research for 44 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: this episode, I didn't quite understand their anatomy. And so 45 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: maybe that we can sort of help set that up 46 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: for the audience for you out there. And uh, then 47 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: when we talk tomorrow about just how dire the consequences 48 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: are right now for coral ecology, that'll, you know, drive 49 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: home the importance of trying to help these critters out. Yeah. 50 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:54,399 Speaker 1: I feel like at times we almost have an amateur 51 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: aquarium um view of it, where we think, oh, I'm 52 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: the fish is what I'm excited about. Anything else is 53 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: just like a plant that we throw in, or maybe 54 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,639 Speaker 1: like a ceramic Buddha that flows to the bottom right. 55 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:07,920 Speaker 1: And then in looking at the coral reefs to we 56 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:09,959 Speaker 1: we see the finished picture. We see the corals, we 57 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 1: see all the fish and all the creatures. I feel 58 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: that it's kind of like looking at Las Vegas and 59 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: seeing all this life, all the light and the fountains 60 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:19,680 Speaker 1: and saying, look at that life is just splendid there. 61 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: It's just going just going splendidly without realizing that without Hoover, damn, 62 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: without the with the necessary um um, you know, water 63 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: system in place, there would be no life there at all. Yep, yeah, exactly. 64 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: Corals are a hugely important ecosystem for and this is 65 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: a stat a quarter of all marine fish species, so 66 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: they're very important. They're not just pretty structures that happen 67 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: to be underwater. They also benefit us, and by us, 68 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: I mean human beings by buffeting coastal regions from strong waves. 69 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: And I'll get into it a little bit further. Uh, 70 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: they promote our economy and huge way is too. So Uh, 71 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: these are super important. And they have totally weird, bizarre 72 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: orgy sex too, which is fun to talk about. So 73 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: let's get into it. Let's talk about coral reefs and 74 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: coral polyps and what's the story here. So they're actually 75 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: made of two things. Now, when we think about corals, 76 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: or at least the way I did, I always thought 77 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: of just the limestone skeletons, right, these these formations. But 78 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:32,600 Speaker 1: corals themselves are actually tiny little polyps. Uh, and they 79 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: excrete the limestone that creates these skeletons. Now, I said earlier, 80 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,000 Speaker 1: we talk a lot about sort of the dire threats 81 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,039 Speaker 1: that they're facing. They're actually being destroyed at a rate 82 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,840 Speaker 1: that will see seventy of them gone in less than 83 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: forty years. That was one stat that I read when 84 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: we just talked tomorrow. She said ten percent of all 85 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:57,599 Speaker 1: reefs are already permanently lost are expected to be lost 86 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: in the next few decades. So that's that's the lot um. 87 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:03,359 Speaker 1: And why is that? Well, we talked to her about 88 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 1: that as well. But real quick primer, if you even 89 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: shift one degree of temperature in the water that they're in, 90 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: it can damage them, causing them to expel the algae 91 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: that's within them, which they have a symbiotic relationship with 92 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: this and this is the key to their ability to 93 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: colonize these these rather hostile regions. Absolutely, yeah uh. And 94 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: they're also facing external threats from hurricanes, predators, pollution, over fishing, 95 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: and from us. Just talking tomorrow, she did a great 96 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: job of explaining what a bleaching event is, which is 97 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:43,599 Speaker 1: the actual impact of these temperature changes causing the algae 98 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: to separate from the coral polyps and basically either killing 99 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: them or making it so that they don't have enough 100 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: energy to reproduce. So why should you care? Here's why. 101 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:56,360 Speaker 1: If you want just a purely selfish reason, If all 102 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: you care about is your own well being. It's import 103 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: to our economy. Actually, uh, they provide jobs for fishing, construction, 104 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: and believe it or not, pharmaceuticals. There's an estimated three 105 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy five billion dollars a year that come 106 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:19,479 Speaker 1: out of coral reefs, So that's pretty huge. We don't 107 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,279 Speaker 1: want to lose these, even on just like a purely 108 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,840 Speaker 1: selfish monetary level, outside of any kind of like altruistic 109 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:31,159 Speaker 1: ecological level. Okay, alright, let's roll into the basic biology 110 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 1: of corals. Okay, So corals were originally thought to be planted, 111 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: so I wasn't alone in that. And if you're out 112 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,280 Speaker 1: there and you thought the same thing, scientists thought that too. 113 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: But they're actually tiny, little soft bodied creatures and their 114 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 1: carnivores too. They're fixed to one spot as a polyp, 115 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,159 Speaker 1: and it's they basically have these barbed stinging cells that 116 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: are called nematocysts, and these are what they used to 117 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:58,160 Speaker 1: capture food, like little tiny fish or zoo plankton. They're 118 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,680 Speaker 1: only about three millimeters long, and they grow to become 119 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: reefs that stretched from miles. When they combine together with 120 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 1: their limestone and their huge colonies, the polyps themselves are 121 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: basically and and Mara says this as well. They're basically 122 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: just a gut with a mouth that's surrounded by tentacles. 123 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: So it's like a teeny tiny little Lovecraft monster. Yeah, 124 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: the thing that you discredited as a mere plant turned 125 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: out to be closer to your heart exactly. Now, we 126 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: talked about the symbiosis that they have with algae. Well, 127 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: the algae that they live together with are called zoos 128 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: in Theelli and uh Um I believe Mara says that 129 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: it's okay to refer to them as zooks. That's that's 130 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: kind of like the the in crowd nickname that they have. 131 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: But they're an algae that lives inside the cell walls 132 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: of corals, and the algae provides them with byproducts of 133 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: photosynthesis that then feeds the polyp. The polyps subsequently shelters 134 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: the algae and provides them with the chemicals that they 135 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: need for photosynthesis. So up to of the algaees energy 136 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: is transferred into the polyps. So you can see now 137 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: why if that algae is forced to flee because of 138 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 1: coral bleaching, why the polyp would be weakened significantly. Okay, 139 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: so this energy helps them to do things like produce 140 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: the limestone that they are covered in, and that's made 141 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: of calcium carbonate. They secrete it from their base and 142 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: it creates a protective skeleton that they basically hide in 143 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: from predators. And because they rarely exist alone, they also 144 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: joined together with other polyps as a colony and act 145 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:41,320 Speaker 1: basically like a single organism colonies. Now I just told 146 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 1: you one polyp is like three millimeters. Colonies can weigh tons. 147 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: These things are huge, uh, and they have many branches 148 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 1: that form out, and this is what we call reefs. Okay, 149 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: so let's get to the nitty gritty of what this 150 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: is about, all right. That today's episode is about coral 151 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 1: sex re production. And they reproduce in two ways, or 152 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: they grow in two ways. The first is they just 153 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 1: keep adding limestone to their base and they secrete upward 154 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: and outward, right, so the reef gets bigger that way. 155 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:16,319 Speaker 1: The main way what we end up talking to Ma 156 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: about primarily is reproduction, and they produce a sexually and 157 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:25,840 Speaker 1: sexually a sexual reproduction is where they divide and create 158 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: identical clones of themselves. And we're gonna talk tomorrow about 159 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: why that's not always such a good thing. But they 160 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,440 Speaker 1: can basically make fragments of themselves and then reattached to 161 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 1: different parts of a reef and then continue to grow. 162 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: Sexual reproduction this is the weird stuff, and this is 163 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:45,440 Speaker 1: what we spend a lot of time talking with Mara about. 164 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:48,640 Speaker 1: This is basically when they send out their eggs and sperm, 165 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: and it works like this. Their sexual reproduction only occurs 166 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 1: once a year, shortly after a full moon. It's called 167 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 1: broadcast spawning, and this is where the colonies release a 168 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: cloud of rightly colored eggs and sperm into the ocean. 169 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: And these bundles are not only buoyant, but they are 170 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: also attached to their parental polyps by like umbilical strings 171 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: of mucus. Mara describes it as being like this pink 172 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: cloud of snow flakes floating upward. It it sounds kind 173 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 1: of beautiful, actually, if if you get the opportunity to 174 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: see it. Shrimp and worms that are around there part 175 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: of the ecology of the coral reef. They're gonna eat 176 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: this stuff as it floats upward. But but basically the 177 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: polyps turn pink right before they release it. One of 178 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,440 Speaker 1: the articles that I read for research on this described 179 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:39,400 Speaker 1: it as milky, pink waters. The eggs are then ejected, 180 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 1: they float upward to the surface and they wait to 181 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 1: get fertilized. But they have nothing to protect them, so 182 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 1: the first twelve hours that they're out there in development, 183 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 1: they're real fragile. Mara actually describes these globules. She says 184 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:54,040 Speaker 1: this in her book and in our interview with her, 185 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:56,280 Speaker 1: and I like it. She says they look like pink 186 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:00,320 Speaker 1: orange nerd candies, which is pretty fun um and gave 187 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:03,079 Speaker 1: me like a really good picture because I, I don't 188 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:05,680 Speaker 1: know about you, Robert, but I've never been to a 189 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: beach area that has coral reefs, and I grew up 190 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:10,560 Speaker 1: on the ocean. Um. I had not really experienced it 191 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,120 Speaker 1: until earlier this year when I went to Jamaica and 192 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,080 Speaker 1: got to Snarling h with the with my wife and 193 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: see some of it in action, and I was just 194 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: really blown away by it. Because there's one thing to see, 195 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,839 Speaker 1: like the super HD footage and it's beautiful, but it 196 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 1: seems like another world. It's like watching Avatar, but totally 197 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:31,640 Speaker 1: to actually poke around there and see it in real life, 198 00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: it's it's quite amazing. So one of the things we 199 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 1: talked tomorrow about that no one quite has the exact 200 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: answer to is how these corals are timing it so 201 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: that they all spawn at the exact same time every year. 202 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: And there's a theory that the solar they're they're taking 203 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: solar cues or wind cues to figure out the month 204 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: that they should spawn in, and then they're taking nooner 205 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:58,960 Speaker 1: cues somehow to figure out which day they should spawn in. 206 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:03,199 Speaker 1: Us Alian scientists have recently found out, however, that when 207 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:07,000 Speaker 1: they're exposed to even tiny little waves, that coral can 208 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: break into identical pieces that can each develop their own larvae. 209 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:15,120 Speaker 1: So this is the clone process. It's similar their stem 210 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: cells then reassemble and continue to develop. So there are 211 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: a lot of identical twin coral polyps out there. But 212 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:25,320 Speaker 1: as we talk about with Mara, that's not very that's 213 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: not exactly a good thing if you need diversity to 214 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 1: sort of protect you from ecological problems. So, but we 215 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,200 Speaker 1: have billions of naked embryos on the surface of the 216 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: ocean during these spawnings, there's a potential to create even 217 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 1: more clones. When they conducted this first experiment that I 218 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 1: was speaking of in Australia, fifty of the embryos that 219 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: they exposed, fragmented and then reorganized so they could develop larvae. 220 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,720 Speaker 1: So the cloning thing is is fairly prevalent. Now. Sent 221 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 1: of the zooks algae corals, those are hermaphrodites, and they're 222 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,959 Speaker 1: basically both male and fee male. They can release sperm 223 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:04,719 Speaker 1: and eggs, but some are only male and some are 224 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: only female. Uh. Some even fertilize their own eggs internally 225 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: if they can snatch up the sperm. This is called brooding. 226 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: They also release fully developed larvae. Now, the sexuality of 227 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:22,040 Speaker 1: these uh particular polyps tends to be consistent across the 228 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: different species of corals that we're talking about here. Another 229 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: number seventy of the zooks corals also spawn eggs and 230 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 1: sperm for external fertilization. So the broadcast spawning we're talking 231 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 1: about is their majority of their reproductive process. So this 232 00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:44,760 Speaker 1: is this is contrary to the brooding that I was 233 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: speaking about earlier. Now, when species brewed like I'm talking 234 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: about this is when they're fertilizing their eggs internally, they 235 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: can store the unfertilized ova for weeks at a time, 236 00:13:56,040 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: whereas spawning species requires this very specific time frame of 237 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: hours that we talked about with Mara, sometimes colonies of 238 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: different species spawned simultaneously. This is when hybridization occurs. We 239 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: know that it happens, we just don't really know the extent. 240 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 1: And as we'll talk about with Mara, most hybrids are sterile, 241 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:22,920 Speaker 1: but it's hopefully avoided when most species of polyps spend 242 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 1: their time spawning at different intervals. Um we talk about 243 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: that as well with particular kinds of species the boulder 244 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: coral and what was the other one, lobe star coral 245 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: and and indeed there are also some some interesting twists 246 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: and turns with hybridization that I think everyone will will 247 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 1: be rather delighted by. Yeah, and we were totally surprised 248 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: by two because it's a brand new research. Another thing 249 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 1: that's super fascinating about this broadcast spawning. It can happen 250 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 1: over vast distances. Corals can basically take extended sea voyages 251 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:57,800 Speaker 1: once they float to the top, and they can survive 252 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: for months before they fully integrate and sink back down 253 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: to the bottom. Now, when an egg does get fertilized 254 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: after the embryo forms, it's it actually swims, so so 255 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: sinking isn't really the right term I should have used there. 256 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: It swims to the bottom to anchor itself. And scientists 257 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: thought until four that all coral reproduction was internal like 258 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,960 Speaker 1: this brooding method. But then in Science magazine somebody published 259 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: a description of the mass spawning event at the Great 260 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: Barrier reef. And here we are now, you know, spending 261 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: an entire episode talking about it. So this is relatively 262 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: new science to humans. A study in a Smithsonian article 263 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 1: that I read for this that's called watching Coral sex 264 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: indicated that if corals spawn just fifteen minutes out of 265 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: sync with their majority of the rest of their species, 266 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,800 Speaker 1: it greatly reduces their chance of reproductive success. So you know, 267 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: this is why it's so important that it happens all 268 00:15:57,480 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 1: at the same time and that the area is protected. 269 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:02,880 Speaker 1: Just a lot of factors that go into the ecology 270 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: of keeping these reefs safe. Uh. And then to go 271 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: along with Mara's nerd candy example, one of the other 272 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:15,360 Speaker 1: scientists described it as being a little bit like tapioca. 273 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: That like, you're basically floating in a sea of I 274 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 1: think tapioca. It's like swimming and bubble tea essentially. Yeah, 275 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: that's a good one. I like that bubble tea. All right, Well, 276 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:28,600 Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back, 277 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: we're gonna call up Mara and discuss coral sex. Hi, Mara, 278 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 1: thanks so much for coming on the show again for 279 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: a summertime discussion of corals. So we had such a 280 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: great time chatting with you before on the the Oppidas 281 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: episode that we recorded, so it's nice to have you 282 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 1: back on to discuss corals. Thank you so much for 283 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,440 Speaker 1: having me. I'm I'm really excited to be here and 284 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: to be able to chat with you guys about definitely 285 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: one of my favorite animals, which are corals somorrow. I 286 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: didn't realize this until like almost five minutes ago. I've 287 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 1: read through the book, We've talked to you before, but 288 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 1: you have a background as a coral reef ecologist, right, 289 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 1: that's right. Yeah, They're where I really um got started 290 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: in my career doing me in science. So they hold 291 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: a very special place in my heart. Quarrels and sharks. Okay, awesome, 292 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 1: Well good, because we got a lot of questions because 293 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:30,920 Speaker 1: because quarrels have a very strange reproductive practice. This is true, 294 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:35,640 Speaker 1: they do. They're they're pretty amazing, especially given that they 295 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:39,359 Speaker 1: can't move, and they are pretty simple animals that I 296 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: don't like to use the word simple, but you know, 297 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: basically they're they're sort of this jelly like blob that 298 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:49,200 Speaker 1: sits with extending little tentacles out of a little hard 299 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:53,239 Speaker 1: cup that they manufacture themselves. So for folks out there 300 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:56,639 Speaker 1: who are familiar with finding Demo um and know that 301 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: he lives in an anemone, which is uh, I don't 302 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: want my it up, and then with me, uh, they're 303 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 1: they're close cousins of those animals, and so they fit 304 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:09,879 Speaker 1: in these little cups all day long with their tentacles 305 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: outstretched into into the environment, sort of taking little particles 306 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:17,479 Speaker 1: out of the water to feed on. But they have 307 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:21,159 Speaker 1: some other cool tricks up there. The sexual reproduction and 308 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: corals is pretty amazing. Yeah, you you presented so well 309 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: in the book. I almost almost hate to ask you 310 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: described to describe it here, you know, I'd almost rather 311 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:32,680 Speaker 1: encourage the readers to read it. But can you take 312 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 1: just a few minutes to describe for us the synchronized 313 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 1: hotel orgy of the corals? Sure, i'd be to So again, 314 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: corals can't move right, so they're stuck. They're cemented to 315 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,359 Speaker 1: the sea floor. This means they can't go out in 316 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: date to find their mates there. They have to allow 317 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: their gammets, which are their eggs and their sperm, to 318 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 1: do the dating and meeting for them. And I should 319 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: say there's two types of coral in the when I'm 320 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:04,200 Speaker 1: about to describe it does this big synchronized orgy. These 321 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:08,439 Speaker 1: are called broadcast spawners. So they release both their sperm 322 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 1: and their eggs into the water column. And the best 323 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,679 Speaker 1: way to ensure that their sperm and eggs are going 324 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 1: to mix the sperm and eggs of other corals and 325 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 1: be able to make the next generation is to time 326 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: that release with their neighbors. So if you imagine that 327 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:27,200 Speaker 1: corals are sort of sitting in their little cups, and 328 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: their cups sort of form these big colonies, and then 329 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,520 Speaker 1: there's multiple colonies along the reefs, it's kind of like 330 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: thinking that, um, the sperm and eggs are are getting 331 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,119 Speaker 1: together in a hotel room, right, and these corals have 332 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:43,920 Speaker 1: to make sure that they're going to synchronize their mate 333 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:47,600 Speaker 1: their release. But then it's also like that couple in 334 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:50,960 Speaker 1: that hotel room that synchronizing their release is also coordinating 335 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,200 Speaker 1: with their neighbors maybe in the two rooms on either side, 336 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,040 Speaker 1: and then those neighbors are also synchronizing with their neighbors, 337 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: and so the whole floor of the hotel are all 338 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: coming together and being able to synchronize their climax exactly 339 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,359 Speaker 1: the same time. And then actually, because there's miles and 340 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,920 Speaker 1: miles of reef and millions and millions of corals, you've 341 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,879 Speaker 1: actually got to blow it out to imagine that every 342 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 1: single hotel room across say, the entire city of New 343 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 1: York is full of couples that are all climax thing 344 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: exactly the same time. So it's pretty phenomenal when you 345 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: think about the scale at which this synchronization is occurring. 346 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:34,120 Speaker 1: And you know, given uh sort of bar pop culture, 347 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: and again I talked about you know, if you look 348 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:38,639 Speaker 1: at any cover of Cosmo, it's all about how to 349 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:41,400 Speaker 1: you know, connect better with your partner. We we seem 350 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,160 Speaker 1: to struggle to do this on a one on one basis. Meanwhile, 351 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:48,160 Speaker 1: corals are doing that's across millions of individuals, no problem, 352 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:52,399 Speaker 1: year after year, down to you know, really really fine timing. 353 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,800 Speaker 1: So we're talking within you know, within moments uh of 354 00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,200 Speaker 1: of their their sort of buddy colonies up and down 355 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: the reef, and this is a once a year occurrence, 356 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,160 Speaker 1: it is. So what happens is coral sort of spend 357 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:10,520 Speaker 1: the entire year celibates, building up the energy and storing 358 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:15,439 Speaker 1: the energy to make these staddy balls of sperm and eggs. 359 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:18,000 Speaker 1: So it's called a bundle. And the bundle looks like, 360 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:20,679 Speaker 1: for those of you who know nerd candies, kind of 361 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:25,159 Speaker 1: a small pinkish orange colored spear, and it takes a 362 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:28,119 Speaker 1: lot of energies to pack all these eggs and sperms together, 363 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,119 Speaker 1: so they wait and again. Um, it's a once a 364 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: year event and it normally happens um for different species. 365 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,960 Speaker 1: It'll happen within a two to three day window around 366 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:43,720 Speaker 1: the full moon, and it normally happens in the summertime, 367 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:48,880 Speaker 1: so there's likely some water temperature cues. There's definitely cues 368 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:52,240 Speaker 1: from from the sunset. It often happens at night after 369 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 1: sunset and moon phase also coordinated around that that full 370 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: moon time, so there's a whole bunch of virominal cues 371 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: that they're using to kind of start to align and 372 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 1: then and then let it all go. But it's yeah, 373 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: so each coral will only go once they've got one 374 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 1: little sperm egg bundle to release and that's it. Uh So, 375 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: within a colony you might have one or two days 376 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:20,560 Speaker 1: of different polyps going off, but in general there's one 377 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:24,200 Speaker 1: peak night where the vast majority of of all these 378 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:26,920 Speaker 1: animals are releasing at the same time. Now, of course 379 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,159 Speaker 1: there's a reason for all of this. So what what 380 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: are the core advantages to this once a year sexual blowout. Yeah, 381 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: so again, um, it's really expensive to manufacture these, especially 382 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,639 Speaker 1: the eggs um and all the sperm, and you really 383 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,000 Speaker 1: want to make sure that in the environment like an 384 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 1: ocean where there's lots of currents and lots of predators, 385 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,840 Speaker 1: so that you are getting your your sperm and eggs 386 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,879 Speaker 1: to mix with other sperm and eggs from your fellow 387 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: species so that you can make next generation. And by 388 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: coordinating the timing really precisely, you up the odds that 389 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,200 Speaker 1: your sperm and eggs are going to bump into another 390 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:09,879 Speaker 1: coral sperm and eggs and be able to fertilize and 391 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: make make that viable a little larvae. But it also 392 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:17,200 Speaker 1: helps to release all these millions and millions of gammets 393 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 1: all at once because it's sort of swamps out the 394 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: predators as well, and the sex facts of coral. That 395 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,160 Speaker 1: sort of starts really peacefully, and it's just really it's 396 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,919 Speaker 1: really quite a miraculous event to witness, and and folks 397 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,199 Speaker 1: can see this because it happens on shaller wreaths. You 398 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,400 Speaker 1: can take a flashlight and even just snorkel um down 399 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,280 Speaker 1: in the Caribbean or off the Great Day or reef 400 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:43,399 Speaker 1: and be able to actually watch this happen um. But 401 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: it starts off really beautifully where these little bundles form 402 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,639 Speaker 1: and then it's sort of this slow release and the 403 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,560 Speaker 1: sperm and eggs are buoyant that they slowed up, and 404 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,359 Speaker 1: it creates sort of like the snow storm underwater, but 405 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: the snowflakes are bright pink and float to the surface, 406 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,760 Speaker 1: and it's really quite magical. And then all of a 407 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:06,639 Speaker 1: sudden it turns into this like crazy. I think I 408 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: refer to it as like a rave where shrimp are 409 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:11,880 Speaker 1: coming in and worms are coming in, and fish are 410 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:13,720 Speaker 1: coming in, and then bigger fish are coming eat the 411 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: little fish that are eating the corals. You know, it's 412 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,359 Speaker 1: it's chaos. And if you're if you are diving down there, 413 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:22,280 Speaker 1: you stop is hitting your mask. It's going in your face. 414 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:24,880 Speaker 1: It's like bumping your regulator out of your mouth. I mean, 415 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:28,920 Speaker 1: it's like it's a wild all you can eat, say, 416 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: And so for the corals, it's helpful to know that 417 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:36,840 Speaker 1: everybody else is releasing their stuff too, so that it's 418 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:38,600 Speaker 1: not just your sperm and eggs that are going to 419 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: get sort of focused on. But hopefully you'll satiate all 420 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: the mouths out there and a couple will make it 421 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,399 Speaker 1: to the surface where they can break apart and and 422 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 1: sort of mix and and and form that next generation. 423 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,439 Speaker 1: So doing it all at once has its benefits for 424 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:57,160 Speaker 1: a couple of reasons. So, Mara, I got a question, 425 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 1: just for clarification, can you explain for our audience what 426 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,359 Speaker 1: we mean when we're talking about gam meats. Are we 427 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: talking about the sperm the eggs both? Is this the 428 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:11,480 Speaker 1: bundle we're referring to, right? Yeah, So gam meat is 429 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:16,280 Speaker 1: the scientific term for a sex cell, and it's either 430 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: a sperm or an egg, so it counts for both. Yep. 431 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:25,399 Speaker 1: So the bundles are there gam meats because it's the 432 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: sperm and eggs um sort of tightly wrapped around each 433 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,919 Speaker 1: other in these in these little balls. And when they 434 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,240 Speaker 1: get to the surface, they actually break open and the 435 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: sperm and multiple eggs. Do you have lots and lots 436 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,920 Speaker 1: of sperm and lots and lots of eggs inside each bundle, 437 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:45,120 Speaker 1: and when they break open at the surface, that's when 438 00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: the sperm and eggs can actually bump and mix with 439 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,640 Speaker 1: the sperm and eggs of other coral individual to make 440 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,879 Speaker 1: a new a new offspring. And one thing that I 441 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,840 Speaker 1: think we should quickly clarify here too is you mentioned 442 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 1: this already, but we're spece typically talking about broadcast spawning 443 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:06,360 Speaker 1: coral reefs. There's other forms of reproduction for coral reefs, 444 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:10,840 Speaker 1: right right, Yeah, So corals are They're really cool animals. 445 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 1: There's hundreds and hundreds of species of coral thousands, I think, 446 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,639 Speaker 1: and um, the ones that build the big reefs, the 447 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:20,879 Speaker 1: ones that we think of when we think about coral reefs, 448 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: tend to be these broadcast spawners that do these mass 449 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:29,600 Speaker 1: um spawning events, these big orgies. There are others, however, 450 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: that are brooders, which mean that they release their sperm 451 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: into the environment, but they actually hold eggs so that 452 00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,760 Speaker 1: the sperm will have to come into the coral colony 453 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:47,399 Speaker 1: and fertilized there's also some corals that are so again 454 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:52,639 Speaker 1: the broadcast spawners are hermaphrodite. They're producing both um sex 455 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,880 Speaker 1: cells right spur and eggs. But there are some corals 456 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,679 Speaker 1: that the colony is either female or male. They have 457 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,919 Speaker 1: separate sexes, in which case they'll release um into the 458 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,119 Speaker 1: environment the sperm, and then the females again hold the eggs, 459 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:14,400 Speaker 1: and there's tons of varieties sort of in between. UM. 460 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 1: I just came back from a coral conference, the Big 461 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:20,639 Speaker 1: Coral Conference happens once every four years and it was 462 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,119 Speaker 1: just last week in Hawaii, and I thought this great 463 00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: presentation by Dr Kristen Marhavior who works out of Karmabi 464 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:31,000 Speaker 1: in Curse Out, and they're finding some corals that seem 465 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:35,200 Speaker 1: to be doing this weird kind of in between where 466 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,439 Speaker 1: they don't really brood, but they're sort of holding the 467 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:41,960 Speaker 1: eggs up in the tentacles but not really letting them go. 468 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 1: So it's like the funky yeah in between. So one 469 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,199 Speaker 1: thing with corals is that they do it all, and 470 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,399 Speaker 1: they seem to do it in lots of different ways 471 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:54,680 Speaker 1: that we're still learning about. Uh, this seems like a 472 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 1: good opportunity for us to hone in on two particular 473 00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:00,080 Speaker 1: species you bring up in the book. Yeah, indeed you 474 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:03,199 Speaker 1: make a special mention of the lob star coral and 475 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,240 Speaker 1: the boulder star coral. Which I found this particularly interesting 476 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,920 Speaker 1: because we're talking about this sort of this broadcast orgy 477 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: of reproduction here, but it seems like it doesn't pay 478 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: to bump into just anybody in a broadcast orgy. That's right, 479 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:23,159 Speaker 1: This is definitely true, um. And it's again it's not 480 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 1: something that we mammals tend to have to worry about 481 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:30,760 Speaker 1: because we are pretty certain of who it is that 482 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,639 Speaker 1: we're mating with, who are gammetes are sperm and eggs 483 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: are mixing with at the time of sects. But for corals, um, 484 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: they don't have that control. Right, they release their sperm 485 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: and eggs into the water column, and they're hoping that 486 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: they do it in the right time period so that 487 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: it bumps into other sperm and eggs of not only 488 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 1: fit healthy other corals, but corals of the right species. 489 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,280 Speaker 1: So coral. There are corals that are very closely related, 490 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: and the low as a boulder star are examples of that. 491 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:06,680 Speaker 1: And it is possible that if the sperm from say 492 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: below star coral bumps into the egg of a boulder 493 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: star coral. Uh, you know, they could they could fertilize 494 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,480 Speaker 1: that egg and a barbacaus form. That's a hybrid. And 495 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:24,360 Speaker 1: hybrids are not always the best outcome for four species 496 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:26,440 Speaker 1: for a couple of reasons. And and folks may be 497 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:30,840 Speaker 1: most familiar with, um sort of the cross between a 498 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: horse and a donkey that creates a mule, right, mules 499 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,160 Speaker 1: for sterile, Like a mule can't go on to reproduce, 500 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:41,440 Speaker 1: And so that sort of idea that hybrids of these 501 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,960 Speaker 1: genetic dead ends, Um, it kind of defeats the whole 502 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: purpose of having sex in the first place, right, which 503 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 1: is to create future offspring and hopefully that those offspring 504 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 1: will be fit and create the next generation, the next generation. 505 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: So hybrid sort of um squelched that in many cases. 506 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: And UM, I don't know if you guys want me 507 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: to go into it, but there is actually some really 508 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: cool work that has been done since the book came 509 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 1: out about some coral hybrid stuff. So we could we 510 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,840 Speaker 1: could talk about that if you want. Yeah, yes, certainly, 511 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 1: especially because like one of the things that I'd like 512 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 1: to clarify just from the book itself is like getting 513 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,600 Speaker 1: back to the Lobes star and the Boulder star coral. 514 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:28,160 Speaker 1: There's very specific ways in which they are compatible, right, 515 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,200 Speaker 1: but it's not always so easy for one to fertilize 516 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: the other. Right. So, because of this risk of forming hybrids, 517 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,840 Speaker 1: corals have come up with a couple of tactics and 518 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 1: there is a level of screening that happens at the 519 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:49,160 Speaker 1: level of the eggs um. Some eggs um some species 520 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: are very prude and they won't let sperm in from 521 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: other species or they make it very difficult. But other 522 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,960 Speaker 1: eggs are are much more promiscuous if you will and 523 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 1: are if sperm from another species is around, it can fertilize. 524 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: So to help kind of create more barriers to hybrids 525 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: and really separate the species corals, the timing of these 526 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 1: uh orgies is very very specific. So again the load 527 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,280 Speaker 1: star coral and the Boulder star coral are a great 528 00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:23,480 Speaker 1: example of this because they spawn on the same night. 529 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:27,160 Speaker 1: You know, they use the same environmental cues the warming temperature, 530 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: the moon phase and then the timing of sunset. But 531 00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: what happens is with the low star coral there was 532 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,360 Speaker 1: no start with the Boulder star coral. The Boulder star 533 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 1: are the early birds, so they will start to release 534 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,760 Speaker 1: um it's about two hours after sunset, so if you're 535 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: down in the Caribbean, sunsets may be around seven. So 536 00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:56,560 Speaker 1: the Boulders first start to release their eggs around nine o'clock. 537 00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: And it really is that precise. You're on year, it's 538 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 1: within two to three minutes of the year before that, 539 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 1: the same colony will spawn at the same time. I mean, 540 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,680 Speaker 1: it's you absolutely could think you're nice your watches to 541 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:13,479 Speaker 1: it's it's pretty awesome. And then the Lowe Star coral 542 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 1: is about an hour and a half de lad from 543 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:19,720 Speaker 1: the Boulder Star, so they would be you know, maybe 544 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 1: ten thirty leaven ish And that separation and time turns 545 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 1: out to be just about the time it takes for 546 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: the Boulder Star sperm fizzle out after about an hour 547 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 1: and a half. So the fact that they go first 548 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 1: at around you know, say nine o'clock, by the time 549 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,520 Speaker 1: the Lobes Star go off and they release their eggs, 550 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 1: there's not a lot of the Boulder Star sperm left 551 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 1: that has a lot of you know, much energy you know, 552 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 1: to get out there and find their eggs. UM. So 553 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: that hour and a half spacing seems to be just 554 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,960 Speaker 1: enough time to allow the first coral in this case, 555 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,280 Speaker 1: the Boulder star, for its eggs to be fertilized by 556 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,200 Speaker 1: its own sperm, and then by the time the next 557 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,000 Speaker 1: species goes off, there's there's really not too many of 558 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:12,800 Speaker 1: their eggs left to be fertilized by any new sperm 559 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: coming into the picture from another species, and any of 560 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,400 Speaker 1: the first sperm that are around sort of are a 561 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:22,360 Speaker 1: little wizard at that point and unlikely to go and 562 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,320 Speaker 1: fertilize the new eggs that are released by the second species. 563 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 1: So I know it's a little a little complicated, but 564 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:33,640 Speaker 1: that's why I asked, Yeah, so tell us about this 565 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: new hybrid research that you said that's come out, because 566 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: maybe it answers a question that I was going to 567 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:43,280 Speaker 1: ask you anyways, which is how frequently are coral hybrids 568 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:49,560 Speaker 1: actually sterile? Yeah, so it's a it's a really important question. 569 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 1: And Dr Nicole fogerty Um is studying this extensively and 570 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:58,000 Speaker 1: and this is her work at all I'll summarize here, 571 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:01,480 Speaker 1: and she again just presented sort of a new component 572 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 1: of it just last week at this big coral conference, 573 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:08,240 Speaker 1: and she has been setting this question in two species 574 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:12,279 Speaker 1: of endangered corals in the Caribbean called elkhorn and staghorn, 575 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,919 Speaker 1: and these are the beautiful, big branching species that used 576 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: to dominate some of the shallow reef crest environments and 577 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,920 Speaker 1: have been really quite wiped out. They were the first 578 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:27,359 Speaker 1: um invertebrates to ever go on to the endangered Species list, 579 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 1: I believe, or one of the few um so they've 580 00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:34,200 Speaker 1: really been hammered and we're trying to figure out why 581 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:36,960 Speaker 1: and try to figure out what this means for their reproduction. 582 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: And what Dr Bobodies found is if you look at 583 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:45,320 Speaker 1: the fossil record, which is for corals, really um pretty 584 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:49,000 Speaker 1: robusts because they create these these hard skeletons. They actually 585 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 1: are captured really well and represented very well in the 586 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,600 Speaker 1: fossil record. If you go back, you see that hybrids 587 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:59,200 Speaker 1: between elkhorn and staghorn are very rare. And they can 588 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,839 Speaker 1: look at this by epe colony shape in different um 589 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:05,600 Speaker 1: aspects of their morphology sort of the shape and the 590 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:10,520 Speaker 1: way that um polyps are arranged, and hybrids, yeah, they're 591 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,640 Speaker 1: just they're just not around very much. But if you 592 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:17,000 Speaker 1: come now into and we also know from early surveys 593 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:20,480 Speaker 1: in the seventies and eighties on coral reefs, there's not 594 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:25,040 Speaker 1: all the hybrids, but recently there are. We see a 595 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:28,960 Speaker 1: lot of hybrids going on, and they've done some genetic 596 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: tests and they're actually finding that these hybrids, so this 597 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:34,799 Speaker 1: is a cross between an elk horn and the staghorn, 598 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:40,640 Speaker 1: makes a hybrid. These hybrids are actually able to breathe 599 00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: with other hybrids and make a second desperation that seems 600 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:49,160 Speaker 1: to be viable. So that's a really neat kind of 601 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,279 Speaker 1: twist on the whole Hybrids are always bad thing. Now 602 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:57,360 Speaker 1: the catches we don't know if that second generation of 603 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:00,680 Speaker 1: hybrids is viable, so we're still sort of aiding to see. 604 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:04,040 Speaker 1: You know this, this can happen where the first generation 605 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 1: of hybrids is viable and seems really um fit and 606 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:15,400 Speaker 1: actually does very well, but then it's kids peter out. 607 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:18,040 Speaker 1: It is it's like a it is, and it's in. 608 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:23,279 Speaker 1: What happens also is that these these these vigorous hybrids 609 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:28,080 Speaker 1: can often compete with their parents, right, So they're competing 610 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:30,959 Speaker 1: with the elk horns and the stag horns that maybe 611 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,759 Speaker 1: aren't doing as well, and if they start to take 612 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: over those environments, but they don't have the ability to 613 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:42,640 Speaker 1: reproduce successfully for multiple generation. Then you wind up with 614 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:47,239 Speaker 1: hybrids actually being another threat to the parent. Now, to 615 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,440 Speaker 1: put another spin on it, which is what corals love 616 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:56,239 Speaker 1: to do, these hybrids can also meet back with the 617 00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:59,319 Speaker 1: elk horn or with stag horns, so you get what's 618 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:02,920 Speaker 1: called a back cross, which gets even you know, you, guys, 619 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:04,840 Speaker 1: your guys show is stuff to blow your minds and 620 00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:09,240 Speaker 1: get really so wait, I'm trying to envision this, given 621 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:12,359 Speaker 1: that the elk horns and the stag horns release at 622 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 1: different times on the same night, do the hybrids release 623 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:20,160 Speaker 1: like somewhere in the middle there, You know, that's a 624 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,720 Speaker 1: really good question, and I I don't know the answer 625 00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:27,239 Speaker 1: to that. They are going to be spotting the full 626 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:31,000 Speaker 1: moon this month. July is a big month for elk 627 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,359 Speaker 1: horns and stag horns July in August, so I can 628 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:36,440 Speaker 1: I will send you guys an update or maybe we 629 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:38,319 Speaker 1: can throw it in the comments, but I will ask 630 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,719 Speaker 1: down there doing the study right now. But that's a 631 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:45,560 Speaker 1: really good question. I'm not sure whose timing they take 632 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:49,920 Speaker 1: or if it's a combination. There their shape is definitely 633 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,520 Speaker 1: um a range of in between the two parents between 634 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:56,440 Speaker 1: the elk horn and stag horn, that there's sort of 635 00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,000 Speaker 1: a whole variety of shapes that these hybrids seem to 636 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:03,359 Speaker 1: be taking. And when the hybrid back crosses, so when 637 00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:07,480 Speaker 1: the um the combo coral of of elk horn and 638 00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:12,160 Speaker 1: stag horns, then fertilizes or mixes with an elk horn 639 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,239 Speaker 1: or a pure you know, stag horn and make this 640 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:20,520 Speaker 1: sort of back cross species um, they tend to have 641 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:25,319 Speaker 1: slightly different shapes and sizes as well. So the good 642 00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:29,080 Speaker 1: news on this is if there's not too much competition 643 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:33,000 Speaker 1: with the parents and there's not too much back crossing, 644 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,279 Speaker 1: the little bit of gene mixing and the little bit 645 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:41,120 Speaker 1: of hybridization that's happening could actually really help the species 646 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:43,840 Speaker 1: and could be a way that this species, the two species, 647 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: the elk horn and the stag horn, are trying to 648 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:50,640 Speaker 1: adapt to these changing environments and are actually dealing with 649 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:54,560 Speaker 1: some of the impacts. It's one way that species may 650 00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:58,560 Speaker 1: be evolving, and we do see some you know, Dr 651 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:01,400 Speaker 1: Brogan is starting to see some very preliminary evidence of 652 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:06,200 Speaker 1: higher disease resistance, higher heat tolerance to you know, with 653 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:09,200 Speaker 1: some of the global warming issues and mass teaching issues. 654 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:13,879 Speaker 1: This is a positive um and and that we will 655 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:18,280 Speaker 1: be able to see new forms of these branching corals 656 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:22,759 Speaker 1: based on this hybridization, or it could go the other way, 657 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,719 Speaker 1: where again these hybrids actually wind up to be not 658 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:32,000 Speaker 1: viable multigeneration and multiple generations down the line, and they 659 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:36,360 Speaker 1: wind up contributing to the decline of the two parents species. 660 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:40,560 Speaker 1: So it's UM, it's something that she's studying really intently 661 00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:44,080 Speaker 1: and watching and it's a fascinating um sort of I 662 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:46,239 Speaker 1: don't know who. I don't know who to root for, really, 663 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 1: but it's important for us to keep an eye on, 664 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 1: especially given the threats to coral ecology that are going on. 665 00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:01,480 Speaker 1: So I've there's a lot of biologicals sort of hypothetical 666 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:03,400 Speaker 1: question for you, because you say in the book the 667 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,759 Speaker 1: same question that immediately popped into my head as I 668 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:08,680 Speaker 1: was reading it, which is, if corals don't have brains 669 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:13,279 Speaker 1: or eyes, how is it that they're seeing light, how 670 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:18,920 Speaker 1: is it that they're uh sensing lunar patterns things like that? Um, 671 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:24,080 Speaker 1: And my question was we just did a piece here 672 00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:27,919 Speaker 1: recently about new research that came out about two months 673 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:32,560 Speaker 1: ago on underwater slime and algae and that they're able 674 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:37,200 Speaker 1: to on a cellular level sense light and move toward it. 675 00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:41,479 Speaker 1: That like each cell on its own can quote see 676 00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:46,239 Speaker 1: light and then like subsequently sort of crawls forward. And 677 00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:48,840 Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you think that maybe is something like 678 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:54,040 Speaker 1: that possible with corals. That's fascinating. I will have to 679 00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:56,440 Speaker 1: go and listen to your story because I don't know 680 00:40:56,680 --> 00:41:00,120 Speaker 1: much about the the how that kind of a a 681 00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 1: slime can do that. That sounds really cool. With corals, 682 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:10,960 Speaker 1: they definitely have light sensors, Um, I'm not up to 683 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:15,120 Speaker 1: speed on like the the detailed physiology there for whether 684 00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:18,840 Speaker 1: it's at a cellular level, whether it's um sort of 685 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 1: a very primitive kind of organ nolle that that we 686 00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:26,120 Speaker 1: see in some worms that can you know, tell if 687 00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:28,920 Speaker 1: a shadow moves across, you know, light and dark. But 688 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:31,799 Speaker 1: they definitely definitely have a way of sensing the light. 689 00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:35,160 Speaker 1: But I'm not sure exactly how it works, to be honest, Um, 690 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:37,479 Speaker 1: I can I can dig into that a little further. 691 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:42,960 Speaker 1: But the reason why we know it's cued by light though, 692 00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:48,840 Speaker 1: and pretty specifically is not only because the timing happens 693 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:53,920 Speaker 1: after sunset year on year so precisely, but it's also 694 00:41:54,000 --> 00:42:01,839 Speaker 1: that we've done some experiments, um, and these were initially started. Yeah, 695 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:05,920 Speaker 1: the garbage bags, right, so simple as best in science. 696 00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:11,280 Speaker 1: And Dr Nancy Knowlton, who's now runs the the Marine 697 00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:14,480 Speaker 1: Science Hall over at the Smithsonian. So when she was 698 00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:18,000 Speaker 1: studying some of these systems, she was like, all right, well, 699 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:21,000 Speaker 1: if we wanted to see whether or not these corals 700 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:24,400 Speaker 1: can actually fertilize one another, and what's going on between 701 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:27,120 Speaker 1: these different species. She looked at the Lobes and the 702 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:29,800 Speaker 1: Boulder Star corals and was like, okay, well they're delayed 703 00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:33,080 Speaker 1: about an hour and a half apart, so what would 704 00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:36,680 Speaker 1: happen if we tricked the Lobes Star coral, which is 705 00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:41,640 Speaker 1: the later spawner in the thinking sunset happened sooner. So 706 00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:45,239 Speaker 1: they took colonies and they put black garbage bags over 707 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:49,279 Speaker 1: them about an hour and a half before sunset, so 708 00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:52,960 Speaker 1: they sort of faked the corals out into thinking that 709 00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:57,040 Speaker 1: sunset had happened at day six o'clock rather than seven thirty. 710 00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:01,920 Speaker 1: So low and behold it right. An hour and a 711 00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:04,080 Speaker 1: half later, when they were que to go off, they 712 00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:06,759 Speaker 1: went off. And what they were able to do by 713 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:11,080 Speaker 1: by kind of sort of shifting the time of sunset earlier, 714 00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:15,640 Speaker 1: they were able to actually get the Load Star coral 715 00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:18,400 Speaker 1: and the Boulder Star coral colonies to spawn at the 716 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:20,400 Speaker 1: same time, and then they were able to check and 717 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:22,840 Speaker 1: see sort of what happened if if that were to occur. 718 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:27,040 Speaker 1: So we know that the light queue is key because 719 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:29,480 Speaker 1: if you, if you sort of could unquote mess with 720 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:34,920 Speaker 1: when sunset happens, it literally shifts exactly the timing of 721 00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:37,680 Speaker 1: the release of the sperm and eggs. So it was 722 00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:43,800 Speaker 1: pretty cool. Indeed, Now in discussing these elaborate reproductive methods 723 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,960 Speaker 1: that the coral use, Um, there's a weakness in all 724 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:49,600 Speaker 1: of this, right now, how does this reproductive strategy make 725 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:53,719 Speaker 1: corals so vulnerable to pollution, climate change, and these other 726 00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:59,640 Speaker 1: influences that are are making so many of them threatened. Yeah, 727 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:03,880 Speaker 1: so there's a lot of reasons why corals are vulnerable 728 00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:06,640 Speaker 1: to to these threats and why they're being threatened. Um, 729 00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:09,920 Speaker 1: but when it comes to their sexual strategy. So this 730 00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:15,600 Speaker 1: idea of the broadcast spotting these mass orgies, the real 731 00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:19,640 Speaker 1: issue is that it all depends on everybody releasing their 732 00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:22,440 Speaker 1: egg and sperm at the same time, and that all 733 00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:26,680 Speaker 1: these neighbors are coordinated across the reefs, so we know 734 00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:31,160 Speaker 1: that it's not only are there their cues from the 735 00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:34,840 Speaker 1: moon phase and the sunset, but as the actual release 736 00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:40,239 Speaker 1: is happening, there's likely some some level of chemical communication 737 00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:44,840 Speaker 1: to really get that timing very very tight and very exact. 738 00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:51,239 Speaker 1: And what happens is corals are starting to decline due 739 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:54,839 Speaker 1: to threats such as overfishing um which is creating more 740 00:44:54,880 --> 00:44:57,800 Speaker 1: algae on the reefs, and there's climate change which is 741 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,719 Speaker 1: warming the waters and acidifying the waters, and all of 742 00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:05,040 Speaker 1: these things um pollution and runoff that they're wiping out corals. 743 00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:09,320 Speaker 1: So coral colonies that are still left are spaced farther 744 00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:14,560 Speaker 1: and farther apart. This means that their ability to really 745 00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:18,640 Speaker 1: sink up and their ability to get their spermag bundles 746 00:45:18,719 --> 00:45:23,080 Speaker 1: to meet and mix at the surface is it's harder 747 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:25,799 Speaker 1: and harder to do that the farther apart their space. Again, 748 00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:29,600 Speaker 1: if you think about the hotel example, it's easier to 749 00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:32,560 Speaker 1: coordinate with your partner when you're right there with them, 750 00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,760 Speaker 1: and it's definitely if you were to try to coordinate 751 00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:37,840 Speaker 1: with your neighbors, you know it would help to be 752 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:40,000 Speaker 1: able to see where they were in the process, and 753 00:45:40,160 --> 00:45:42,279 Speaker 1: and and no kind of what that timing was like, 754 00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:45,960 Speaker 1: so you could adjust. And the farther and farther apart 755 00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:49,960 Speaker 1: these these species are the coral colonies are spaced, the 756 00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:51,960 Speaker 1: harder it is to do. And this is this is 757 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:56,760 Speaker 1: known as density dependence. So the the amount of corals 758 00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:01,520 Speaker 1: in in proximity to each other actually affect how successful 759 00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:05,360 Speaker 1: their fertilization rates are. And the farther apart there's space, 760 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:10,560 Speaker 1: that level of fertilization goes down. So it's sort of 761 00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:13,319 Speaker 1: a double whammy. Not only are you not only are 762 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:19,520 Speaker 1: we wiping out coral colonies, you know, putting less less adults. 763 00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:22,560 Speaker 1: Less adults are out there able to spawn because they're dying, 764 00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:25,760 Speaker 1: but the ones that are left or space farther apart, 765 00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:30,640 Speaker 1: and so there are odds of having successful sex go down. 766 00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:33,879 Speaker 1: So it just winds up being a double whammy. Now, 767 00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:36,160 Speaker 1: some listeners might be wondering, well, if the if the 768 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:39,799 Speaker 1: corals can reproduce a sexually, then that's their backup plan, right, 769 00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:44,000 Speaker 1: Why doesn't cloning solve the problem? Yeah, And it's a 770 00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:49,440 Speaker 1: really good question, because coral colonies grow through a sexual reproduction. 771 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:52,640 Speaker 1: So you start with this one little larvae that settles 772 00:46:52,719 --> 00:46:56,560 Speaker 1: down on the sea surface will swim down attached somewhere 773 00:46:56,719 --> 00:46:59,640 Speaker 1: on a hard up straight on the hard bottom rocky 774 00:46:59,719 --> 00:47:03,640 Speaker 1: botty um but old reef and creep this one single 775 00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:07,080 Speaker 1: cup with this one polyp, and then that polyp will 776 00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:10,680 Speaker 1: divide and divide again and again in ace and that's 777 00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:15,680 Speaker 1: the a sexual reproduction. It clones itself. But um clones 778 00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:23,120 Speaker 1: are genetically identical, so there's no diversity in that coral colony. 779 00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:26,680 Speaker 1: All those individuals are individuals that they have the exact 780 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:32,200 Speaker 1: same genetic identity. So this helps the colony grow, and 781 00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:35,760 Speaker 1: there's benefits to being a big colony, but it doesn't 782 00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:39,920 Speaker 1: allow the species as a whole to have variety and 783 00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:46,520 Speaker 1: genetic diversity. And diversity is nature's insurance policy against all 784 00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:49,640 Speaker 1: the changes that are are rough against us. So if 785 00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:53,719 Speaker 1: a new disease develops, you need genetically diverse individuals in 786 00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:56,920 Speaker 1: the population, some of who may have a natural resistance. 787 00:47:57,680 --> 00:48:01,400 Speaker 1: If um there's a big shift in in uh, say 788 00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:05,440 Speaker 1: predator or prey, say there's there's a different food supply, 789 00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:10,279 Speaker 1: you need individuals who might have slightly different morphology or 790 00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:14,480 Speaker 1: slightly different genetic ability to digest a different type of 791 00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:18,040 Speaker 1: food source so that they can survive. So as these 792 00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:21,320 Speaker 1: different changes occur in the environment and different threats arise, 793 00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:25,920 Speaker 1: that genetic diversity is really critical that the species as 794 00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:31,799 Speaker 1: a whole can survive. And genetic diversity is created through 795 00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:36,600 Speaker 1: sexual reproduction, not a sexual reproduction. So it's when the 796 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:40,000 Speaker 1: sperm from one individual mixes and meshes with the eggs 797 00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:43,920 Speaker 1: from another that a whole new DNA blueprint is formed. 798 00:48:44,600 --> 00:48:49,400 Speaker 1: And that is where the diversity of genetic uh, that 799 00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:52,520 Speaker 1: is where the diversity that these scis needs comes from. 800 00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:57,839 Speaker 1: Without sex, there's no diversity. So given what we learned 801 00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:01,200 Speaker 1: from you today about what's going new research that's going 802 00:49:01,239 --> 00:49:04,399 Speaker 1: on with hybridization, I'm starting to wonder now if maybe 803 00:49:04,600 --> 00:49:09,040 Speaker 1: that's the role of hybridization in some species is to 804 00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:14,640 Speaker 1: further the diversity. Yeah, and I think it might be. 805 00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:18,560 Speaker 1: I think that's that's one of the questions that Dr 806 00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:22,960 Speaker 1: Folky is really um digging into to say, could it 807 00:49:23,080 --> 00:49:29,000 Speaker 1: be that under certain circumstances, hybridization does work to help 808 00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:33,759 Speaker 1: increase that genetic diversity in a way that allows for adaptation, 809 00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:37,880 Speaker 1: that allows for species to withstand a changing environment or 810 00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:41,480 Speaker 1: changing threats so that it can then move forward and 811 00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:44,960 Speaker 1: maybe it will form a new species eventually. That's you know, 812 00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:48,560 Speaker 1: collected over time from the genes from the two two 813 00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:51,320 Speaker 1: parents prior to it, you know, in this case of 814 00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:54,160 Speaker 1: tag Horn and elk Horn. Yeah, I think it's still 815 00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:58,160 Speaker 1: it's possible, and that's what makes it a really intriguing 816 00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:01,839 Speaker 1: space to investing. Eight Um, but we we just don't 817 00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:05,400 Speaker 1: know yet, but it absolutely is possible. So where are 818 00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:08,120 Speaker 1: we right now in terms of coral loss? So well, 819 00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:09,920 Speaker 1: what are we doing and what can we do to 820 00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:15,799 Speaker 1: fix them or at least to address the problem. Oh yeah, 821 00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:20,160 Speaker 1: So you know, this is where I try to find 822 00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:24,280 Speaker 1: that balance between staying optimistic while also being really honest 823 00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:29,720 Speaker 1: that the data coming in it's sobering. So last week's 824 00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:34,840 Speaker 1: conference again, Um, it's really alarming how quickly we are 825 00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:40,200 Speaker 1: losing coral reefs and they are being hit by every 826 00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:44,400 Speaker 1: it's sort of a perfect storm. So, um, we're losing 827 00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:47,520 Speaker 1: them due to over fishing, which has removed a lot 828 00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:50,279 Speaker 1: of the grazers on the reefs, so the equivalent of 829 00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:54,359 Speaker 1: the cows that chomped back the seaweed. So we're getting 830 00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:57,279 Speaker 1: corals overgrown by seaweed because we've taken out things like 831 00:50:57,400 --> 00:51:03,560 Speaker 1: parrot fish and sea urchins. Um, we're losing corals extremely 832 00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:08,800 Speaker 1: quickly now to bleaching events. These are um the result 833 00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:13,960 Speaker 1: of global warming. It's when waters warm. Corals exist naturally 834 00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:18,840 Speaker 1: right at their edge of thermal tolerance. Um. You know, 835 00:51:18,920 --> 00:51:21,840 Speaker 1: they don't have air conditioning or heating systems in their houses, 836 00:51:22,560 --> 00:51:25,000 Speaker 1: so they live right at that perfect window where they 837 00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:28,480 Speaker 1: are just warm enough. And if you crank up the 838 00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:32,680 Speaker 1: heat of the ocean too much and we're talking one 839 00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:37,240 Speaker 1: to two degrees celsius, so not a lot of change, 840 00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:43,240 Speaker 1: coral stress and that stress um disrupts a really unique 841 00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:47,920 Speaker 1: relationship that they have with a tiny microscopic little algae 842 00:51:48,719 --> 00:51:53,040 Speaker 1: called those in selly you can calm zoaks, and these 843 00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:56,239 Speaker 1: zooks are food factories for the coral. They actually live 844 00:51:56,320 --> 00:51:59,680 Speaker 1: inside the coral tissue and they photosynthaesize just like a 845 00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:03,680 Speaker 1: tree eat um, turning sunlight into energy. And the energy 846 00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:07,239 Speaker 1: and the new in the sort of uh nutrition that 847 00:52:07,360 --> 00:52:11,680 Speaker 1: those those lly produced are what the coral can then 848 00:52:11,880 --> 00:52:16,320 Speaker 1: use to have extra energy to build their really massive 849 00:52:16,360 --> 00:52:21,320 Speaker 1: and impressive skeletons. Because the truth is the water environment 850 00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:24,400 Speaker 1: where corals exist. The reason why that water is like 851 00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:29,719 Speaker 1: that amazing clear, beautiful tropical turquoise blue that we all 852 00:52:29,800 --> 00:52:32,719 Speaker 1: love to swim, swim through and see for hundreds of 853 00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:37,480 Speaker 1: feet because there's nothing in it. It's a desert, which 854 00:52:37,560 --> 00:52:41,080 Speaker 1: makes it ideal for the right, right, which makes it 855 00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:45,000 Speaker 1: perfect for that this coral algae relationship, because they can 856 00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:47,200 Speaker 1: make their own nutrients and be able to build build 857 00:52:47,239 --> 00:52:51,719 Speaker 1: these reefs and have really clean clear waters. And when 858 00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:55,759 Speaker 1: we throw pollution in there, it disrupts that that relationship, 859 00:52:55,880 --> 00:52:59,279 Speaker 1: and when we heat the water, it especially disrupts that relationship. 860 00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:03,840 Speaker 1: And the bleaching is literally the coral kicking out the 861 00:53:04,200 --> 00:53:08,200 Speaker 1: zoaks and it turns the coral white. They get their 862 00:53:08,280 --> 00:53:12,200 Speaker 1: color from having these symbiotics algae in there, and so 863 00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:15,960 Speaker 1: when they bleach, they don't necessarily die. The coral does 864 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:19,800 Speaker 1: not necessarily die right away. Sometimes they can recover, but 865 00:53:20,239 --> 00:53:23,920 Speaker 1: oftentimes they will die. And even if they do recover, 866 00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:29,160 Speaker 1: it can take them several years to regain those symbionts 867 00:53:29,280 --> 00:53:33,080 Speaker 1: and regain enough energy to them be able to reproduce, 868 00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:36,640 Speaker 1: because again, producing those sperm egg bundles takes a long 869 00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:40,440 Speaker 1: a lot of energy. And you know, it's just like 870 00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:44,239 Speaker 1: us if we're sick and we're not healthy, We're not 871 00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:48,399 Speaker 1: going to do the the extra things, you know, we're 872 00:53:48,440 --> 00:53:50,560 Speaker 1: gonna every all the energy we have goes through just 873 00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:56,040 Speaker 1: esic survival and sex is not basic survival, so production 874 00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:59,920 Speaker 1: of sperm and eggs drops or the number of sperm 875 00:54:00,239 --> 00:54:02,759 Speaker 1: you know, sperm and eggs that are produced will go down. 876 00:54:03,520 --> 00:54:07,480 Speaker 1: So all of these things, and climate change, especially UM 877 00:54:08,160 --> 00:54:11,320 Speaker 1: is really really threatening the reefs. The Great Beery Reefs 878 00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:15,320 Speaker 1: off Australia, the largest restructure in the world. UM. We 879 00:54:15,520 --> 00:54:19,520 Speaker 1: just had the worst bleaching on record UM. So it 880 00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:24,120 Speaker 1: was their summer right in February in March, and we're 881 00:54:24,200 --> 00:54:28,360 Speaker 1: seeing rates of severe bleaching that are just off the charts. 882 00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:30,680 Speaker 1: We've never seen it like this before. I mean we're 883 00:54:30,719 --> 00:54:36,720 Speaker 1: talking well over half the reef UM and that's really 884 00:54:36,800 --> 00:54:39,800 Speaker 1: really alarming. You know, some of these colonies are hundreds 885 00:54:39,840 --> 00:54:43,480 Speaker 1: of years old and if they go, it's going to 886 00:54:43,520 --> 00:54:47,160 Speaker 1: be a long time before that, you know, before a 887 00:54:47,239 --> 00:54:50,200 Speaker 1: new coral colony can can take over that role and 888 00:54:50,600 --> 00:54:54,240 Speaker 1: perform all of the benefits that that type of structure 889 00:54:54,719 --> 00:54:58,719 Speaker 1: can provide. Clarify for our listeners, and my understanding is 890 00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:03,440 Speaker 1: even at their growth rate when they're they're broadcast spawning 891 00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:06,560 Speaker 1: something like that would take thousands of years to regrow 892 00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:12,520 Speaker 1: a reef. Oh absolutely, I mean coral colonies are slow. 893 00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:16,120 Speaker 1: These are slow growing. Think of an old growth forest, 894 00:55:16,600 --> 00:55:19,360 Speaker 1: you know, where where your tallest trees are hundreds and 895 00:55:19,520 --> 00:55:22,680 Speaker 1: hundreds of years old. UM. To get that level of 896 00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:28,720 Speaker 1: perplexity takes for for centuries and centuries. And to build 897 00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:31,480 Speaker 1: something as big as a gray faery reef, absolutely, a 898 00:55:31,760 --> 00:55:35,200 Speaker 1: thousands You can drill down and scientists will core down 899 00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:38,640 Speaker 1: to see, you know, colonies that have built and staffed 900 00:55:38,719 --> 00:55:40,960 Speaker 1: up on top of each other over over time, and 901 00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:45,600 Speaker 1: it's thousands and thousands of years. So it's um a slow, 902 00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:51,839 Speaker 1: long process that has worked really really well and has 903 00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:55,200 Speaker 1: allowed them to withstand quite big changes, you know in 904 00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:57,520 Speaker 1: the environment. I mean we we've had big changes in 905 00:55:57,600 --> 00:56:01,560 Speaker 1: the past, but those changes haven't happened so quickly. And 906 00:56:01,719 --> 00:56:05,440 Speaker 1: so the problem with you know, climate change caused by humans, 907 00:56:05,680 --> 00:56:08,920 Speaker 1: caused by us, is that it's happening very very quickly, 908 00:56:09,440 --> 00:56:12,759 Speaker 1: and so the ability for these corals to adapt, um 909 00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:16,120 Speaker 1: seems to be pretty compromised, and we're seeing some pretty 910 00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:20,839 Speaker 1: pretty sad state of affairs. UM. I think there's over 911 00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:24,400 Speaker 1: six hundred species of coral now that are being considered 912 00:56:24,560 --> 00:56:29,840 Speaker 1: for threatened or endangered status UM because of the losses. 913 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:34,279 Speaker 1: So that's that's a bummer, But there is some good news, um, 914 00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:37,560 Speaker 1: you know, it's I definitely and we can talk about 915 00:56:37,600 --> 00:56:40,319 Speaker 1: that UM for sure, because it's it's not the kind 916 00:56:40,360 --> 00:56:44,279 Speaker 1: of situation where we should throw our hands up and say, oh, well, um, 917 00:56:44,520 --> 00:56:46,839 Speaker 1: it's the bummer that my kids won't get to dive 918 00:56:46,920 --> 00:56:49,719 Speaker 1: on a cool reef, because that's that's not necessarily the case. 919 00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:53,200 Speaker 1: You know, the door is not closed UM with coral 920 00:56:53,280 --> 00:56:57,960 Speaker 1: restoration uh in places where they're actually it's sort of 921 00:56:58,080 --> 00:57:01,080 Speaker 1: like I VS. For corals. They go out when they 922 00:57:01,239 --> 00:57:04,360 Speaker 1: when the corals spawn at night, and they they're collecting 923 00:57:04,480 --> 00:57:06,759 Speaker 1: some of the sperm and eggs and they're bringing them 924 00:57:06,760 --> 00:57:10,319 Speaker 1: back to labs um and and going through a whole 925 00:57:10,360 --> 00:57:14,839 Speaker 1: process that actually increases the fertilization rate. And then they're 926 00:57:14,880 --> 00:57:18,000 Speaker 1: rearing the larvae and then the juvenile corals up to 927 00:57:18,320 --> 00:57:21,200 Speaker 1: sort of a bigger size so that they'll they'll have 928 00:57:21,320 --> 00:57:24,160 Speaker 1: a better chance to survive on the reef and not 929 00:57:24,280 --> 00:57:27,840 Speaker 1: get overgrown by algae or not get eaten by a predator. 930 00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:30,800 Speaker 1: And then they outplant these corals and they're finding that 931 00:57:30,880 --> 00:57:33,280 Speaker 1: they're really successful and some of the ones that they've 932 00:57:33,320 --> 00:57:36,480 Speaker 1: done over the past two to three years, those corals 933 00:57:36,560 --> 00:57:40,400 Speaker 1: now are spawning in the wild, which is great. So 934 00:57:40,560 --> 00:57:43,960 Speaker 1: there's some really neat um examples of coral farming for 935 00:57:44,160 --> 00:57:47,400 Speaker 1: for restoration that are are helping to sort of repopulate 936 00:57:47,440 --> 00:57:50,480 Speaker 1: areas that have been hit hard by by some of 937 00:57:50,560 --> 00:57:54,840 Speaker 1: these events. There's also um a lot more work in 938 00:57:55,440 --> 00:58:00,880 Speaker 1: attention now and fishering management to protect herbivores. So like 939 00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:03,520 Speaker 1: then these are the grazers the cows of the reefs. 940 00:58:03,760 --> 00:58:06,760 Speaker 1: And you know, for the listeners out there who do 941 00:58:07,040 --> 00:58:11,040 Speaker 1: like to eat fish, do not eat parrot fish. That's 942 00:58:11,120 --> 00:58:13,920 Speaker 1: one great thing you can do to help corals is 943 00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:18,200 Speaker 1: encourage folks to leave parrot fish um on the reefs 944 00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:20,080 Speaker 1: where they can be doing their job to eat back 945 00:58:20,160 --> 00:58:24,680 Speaker 1: this algae. And you know, we can talk more extensively. 946 00:58:24,720 --> 00:58:27,680 Speaker 1: There's some great resources out there, but you know, using 947 00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:29,920 Speaker 1: tourism dollars if you want to go to the Caribbean 948 00:58:30,080 --> 00:58:33,600 Speaker 1: or go to the Great Theoryes, support those countries that 949 00:58:33,880 --> 00:58:37,960 Speaker 1: have good management and plates that do abide by certain 950 00:58:38,000 --> 00:58:41,960 Speaker 1: fisheries policies, that do have protected areas that do enforce 951 00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:46,040 Speaker 1: their their pollution and clean water rules so that the 952 00:58:46,160 --> 00:58:51,200 Speaker 1: reefs there are given the best chance they can and 953 00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:56,920 Speaker 1: we have seen that. While we've seen that local management 954 00:58:57,080 --> 00:59:00,800 Speaker 1: can make a difference, it's absolute be a way to 955 00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:05,680 Speaker 1: help corals resist and get through some of these these challenges. 956 00:59:06,600 --> 00:59:10,440 Speaker 1: That said, without addressing climate change, there's no way. So 957 00:59:11,480 --> 00:59:13,760 Speaker 1: we have to deal with climate change. We have to 958 00:59:13,840 --> 00:59:19,080 Speaker 1: support you know, legislators and policies that are really progressive 959 00:59:19,160 --> 00:59:23,640 Speaker 1: at this stage, and there's fantastic proposals out there, there's 960 00:59:23,840 --> 00:59:28,240 Speaker 1: great clean energy technologies. Really its political will at this point, 961 00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:32,240 Speaker 1: and that actually can be a very hopeful thing because 962 00:59:32,320 --> 00:59:34,800 Speaker 1: that means all of us we get together kind of 963 00:59:34,840 --> 00:59:37,840 Speaker 1: like the corals do and synchronize our actions. We can 964 00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:43,000 Speaker 1: actually turn turn down feet and try to change the 965 00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:45,560 Speaker 1: tide on this um. And it's really important that we 966 00:59:45,680 --> 00:59:50,440 Speaker 1: do so. So that I'm trying to think of I 967 00:59:50,560 --> 00:59:52,520 Speaker 1: like that that's a nice boat to put on. It 968 00:59:52,720 --> 00:59:54,960 Speaker 1: isn't like for us to be able to help them 969 00:59:55,040 --> 00:59:58,520 Speaker 1: out so that we can continue to have this ecosystem together. 970 00:59:58,720 --> 01:00:00,720 Speaker 1: We need to sort of learn and how to behave 971 01:00:00,840 --> 01:00:07,600 Speaker 1: like them. Yeah, sink sink up a bit for bigger impact. Another, 972 01:00:07,840 --> 01:00:09,800 Speaker 1: I know, you know, it's always nice to give very 973 01:00:09,840 --> 01:00:15,800 Speaker 1: practical things. Um. Another really important, uh, especially coming into 974 01:00:15,840 --> 01:00:18,960 Speaker 1: summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, that folks can do 975 01:00:19,120 --> 01:00:20,640 Speaker 1: is when you go to the beach, if you are 976 01:00:21,160 --> 01:00:25,920 Speaker 1: swimming or diving in areas around coral reefs, don't use 977 01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:33,400 Speaker 1: sunscreen with oxybenzonate benzonate. Excuse me, oxybenzonate is um oxybenzone. 978 01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:36,080 Speaker 1: I think it's also called They're finding more and more 979 01:00:36,160 --> 01:00:40,400 Speaker 1: that the impacts of sunscreen, especially very sort of shallow 980 01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:44,800 Speaker 1: bays with lots of tourists is significant. And again that's 981 01:00:44,840 --> 01:00:48,000 Speaker 1: a local impact we can all be much more conscious of. 982 01:00:48,240 --> 01:00:51,160 Speaker 1: And if you just google you know, coral safe sunscreen, 983 01:00:51,320 --> 01:00:53,960 Speaker 1: you'll there's you know, tons that come up. Um, this 984 01:00:54,160 --> 01:00:56,880 Speaker 1: is new work that's been done. We just didn't realize 985 01:00:57,680 --> 01:01:01,480 Speaker 1: how sensitive again that that coral's works of these chemical inputs. 986 01:01:02,120 --> 01:01:04,960 Speaker 1: So just be smart about your sun screen choice. That's 987 01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:08,240 Speaker 1: a really simple way, um, to try to be more 988 01:01:08,280 --> 01:01:11,120 Speaker 1: conscious and give give corals a bit of a leg up. 989 01:01:12,040 --> 01:01:16,880 Speaker 1: Cool And is here a particular organization Coral Advocacy group 990 01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:20,280 Speaker 1: that that that that one should follow or even you know, 991 01:01:20,400 --> 01:01:25,320 Speaker 1: contribute to monetarily that can also help. Well, those are great, 992 01:01:25,760 --> 01:01:28,840 Speaker 1: that's a really great question. There there are several really 993 01:01:28,960 --> 01:01:33,040 Speaker 1: excellent groups out there that are doing wonderful work. UM. 994 01:01:33,400 --> 01:01:37,960 Speaker 1: There's a group called REEF which is the Reef Environmental 995 01:01:38,040 --> 01:01:42,320 Speaker 1: and Education Foundation. They do a lot of science but 996 01:01:42,400 --> 01:01:45,400 Speaker 1: also volunteer work, so folks can go check out reef 997 01:01:45,520 --> 01:01:50,560 Speaker 1: dot org. UM there's coral monitoring monitoring networks and groups 998 01:01:50,640 --> 01:01:55,880 Speaker 1: like the Nature Conservancy and others, especially in the field 999 01:01:55,960 --> 01:01:58,880 Speaker 1: of Nature Conservancy in the US Virgin Islands and the 1000 01:01:58,960 --> 01:02:02,400 Speaker 1: Nature Conservancy of or to Are do call on on 1001 01:02:02,600 --> 01:02:07,320 Speaker 1: volunteers to help UM monitor for bleaching. So if you're 1002 01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:10,040 Speaker 1: someone who goes diving or snorkeling or wants to take 1003 01:02:10,080 --> 01:02:13,240 Speaker 1: a trip, you can go and report what you've seen 1004 01:02:13,400 --> 01:02:16,120 Speaker 1: so that we can help keep track of where bleachings 1005 01:02:16,120 --> 01:02:20,240 Speaker 1: occurring and and try to understand those patterns better. So 1006 01:02:20,600 --> 01:02:23,920 Speaker 1: I think it's called Coral Reef Watch, and I believe 1007 01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:26,880 Speaker 1: it's run UM by Noah, which is the you know, 1008 01:02:27,000 --> 01:02:31,920 Speaker 1: the US government's federal arm that studies oceans. But again, 1009 01:02:32,200 --> 01:02:35,280 Speaker 1: folks like the Nature Conservancy I know, help train volunteers 1010 01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:39,800 Speaker 1: to execute on that program. So those are those are 1011 01:02:40,120 --> 01:02:42,280 Speaker 1: some that come to mind that are doing you know, 1012 01:02:42,400 --> 01:02:47,840 Speaker 1: direct work with corals. UM. There's other great work by 1013 01:02:48,360 --> 01:02:52,320 Speaker 1: UM groups like Moat Marine Lab in Florida that are 1014 01:02:52,360 --> 01:02:56,720 Speaker 1: doing some of these UM farming and restoration techniques. So 1015 01:02:56,880 --> 01:02:59,320 Speaker 1: if you if you're sort of more towards wanting to 1016 01:02:59,440 --> 01:03:02,720 Speaker 1: support UH some of the science behind how we're studying 1017 01:03:02,760 --> 01:03:05,520 Speaker 1: and learning, there, they're a great a great place to look. 1018 01:03:06,240 --> 01:03:10,120 Speaker 1: There's a lot, but I would say that UM that 1019 01:03:10,240 --> 01:03:13,440 Speaker 1: those are the ones that kind of immediately pops pop 1020 01:03:13,600 --> 01:03:17,640 Speaker 1: into my head. UM. Oh, there's another there's a wonderful 1021 01:03:17,720 --> 01:03:22,640 Speaker 1: initiative by um UH the Weight Foundation called the Blue 1022 01:03:22,760 --> 01:03:27,160 Speaker 1: Halo Initiative, and this was initially started by a woman 1023 01:03:27,320 --> 01:03:33,720 Speaker 1: named doctor Ayana Johnson and they it's island wide Marine 1024 01:03:33,840 --> 01:03:39,200 Speaker 1: policy um in marine sort of management for Caribbean countries. 1025 01:03:39,240 --> 01:03:41,520 Speaker 1: At this point, it's in the Caribbean, but it's really 1026 01:03:41,640 --> 01:03:45,800 Speaker 1: great because it's it combines education and outreach, it combines 1027 01:03:45,920 --> 01:03:50,120 Speaker 1: fisheries management, and it combines sort of typical conservation all 1028 01:03:50,160 --> 01:03:53,760 Speaker 1: into one so that these island governments are actually implementing 1029 01:03:53,920 --> 01:03:59,080 Speaker 1: a very holistic policy that works to protect their waters. 1030 01:03:59,560 --> 01:04:02,800 Speaker 1: But all so you know, support fisher livelihood, but make 1031 01:04:02,880 --> 01:04:05,920 Speaker 1: sure that they're they're taking all interest into account. So 1032 01:04:06,000 --> 01:04:09,640 Speaker 1: that's another really neat initiative to look into or again 1033 01:04:09,760 --> 01:04:13,520 Speaker 1: see where the blue Halo projects are and support going 1034 01:04:13,640 --> 01:04:16,560 Speaker 1: to those countries, um for you know, for your vacation, 1035 01:04:16,720 --> 01:04:20,200 Speaker 1: because they're ones that you know, um, your your tax, 1036 01:04:20,880 --> 01:04:23,760 Speaker 1: your tourism tax is going to two governments that are 1037 01:04:23,800 --> 01:04:27,480 Speaker 1: really trying to do the right thing. Um. Trying to 1038 01:04:27,560 --> 01:04:32,600 Speaker 1: think if anything else comes to mind, Um, well, if 1039 01:04:32,640 --> 01:04:35,960 Speaker 1: any additional ones come up, you can always you shoot 1040 01:04:35,960 --> 01:04:38,400 Speaker 1: them to us via email and will include them, uh 1041 01:04:38,520 --> 01:04:41,080 Speaker 1: you know on the landing picks for the episode. Yeah, 1042 01:04:41,240 --> 01:04:43,640 Speaker 1: there's I think there's. Um. The last thing I'd say 1043 01:04:43,720 --> 01:04:47,800 Speaker 1: is there is the Coral Restoration Foundation, which is I 1044 01:04:47,880 --> 01:04:51,080 Speaker 1: think just Coral Restoration dot org. And they do some 1045 01:04:51,200 --> 01:04:56,520 Speaker 1: really great work as well, um in terms of trying 1046 01:04:56,600 --> 01:04:59,440 Speaker 1: to against farm out corald and I think they might 1047 01:04:59,480 --> 01:05:02,480 Speaker 1: also have volunteer opportunities, which is it's fun. I mean, 1048 01:05:02,560 --> 01:05:05,040 Speaker 1: they're it's neat to get to go and spend your 1049 01:05:05,120 --> 01:05:08,680 Speaker 1: vacation helping to grow baby corals or outplant them honor 1050 01:05:08,720 --> 01:05:11,040 Speaker 1: reef or ten to ones that are out there. It's 1051 01:05:11,080 --> 01:05:13,800 Speaker 1: it's a nice nice way to really feel like you're 1052 01:05:14,040 --> 01:05:16,720 Speaker 1: just like going and doing um, you know, tree plantings. 1053 01:05:16,760 --> 01:05:18,920 Speaker 1: On Earth Day you can go do coral plantings and 1054 01:05:19,240 --> 01:05:22,880 Speaker 1: and help reef to recover cool well. Um, is there 1055 01:05:22,880 --> 01:05:24,400 Speaker 1: anything else you want to get out there before we 1056 01:05:24,560 --> 01:05:30,040 Speaker 1: close it up here? Um? Um, I don't think so. 1057 01:05:30,320 --> 01:05:34,760 Speaker 1: Just for folks to know that, unlike so much sex 1058 01:05:34,840 --> 01:05:39,120 Speaker 1: and to see coral spawning is something we can actually 1059 01:05:39,240 --> 01:05:44,200 Speaker 1: see pretty easily. Again, it happens in the shallows. You 1060 01:05:44,360 --> 01:05:47,840 Speaker 1: just need a mask, you don't even need thin go 1061 01:05:48,080 --> 01:05:51,160 Speaker 1: right offshore. There's lots of places in the world that 1062 01:05:51,240 --> 01:05:53,880 Speaker 1: are you know, face and easy to get to and 1063 01:05:54,200 --> 01:05:56,600 Speaker 1: and you can just swim out with a flashlight water 1064 01:05:57,000 --> 01:06:00,880 Speaker 1: waterproof flashlight. Um. And you can watch this. It happens 1065 01:06:00,960 --> 01:06:03,480 Speaker 1: right after sunset and it's starting now, I mean from 1066 01:06:03,520 --> 01:06:07,880 Speaker 1: now through October and the Caribbean there will be different 1067 01:06:07,960 --> 01:06:10,840 Speaker 1: mass spawning events. And if you go online and google them, 1068 01:06:11,080 --> 01:06:14,320 Speaker 1: there there are schedules and you can go and and 1069 01:06:14,480 --> 01:06:19,760 Speaker 1: watch this happen. And it really is. Um. Not only 1070 01:06:19,880 --> 01:06:24,800 Speaker 1: is it magical and sort of mystical and ethereal and 1071 01:06:25,120 --> 01:06:27,880 Speaker 1: just how it looks visually, but there's something that I 1072 01:06:28,080 --> 01:06:35,120 Speaker 1: find incredibly uplifting and inspiring. And knowing that despite all 1073 01:06:35,160 --> 01:06:39,360 Speaker 1: the threats, despite all the negative impacts that we are 1074 01:06:39,440 --> 01:06:44,880 Speaker 1: having on these animals, every year, they continue to soldier on. 1075 01:06:45,680 --> 01:06:49,560 Speaker 1: These mass spawnings still are happening, and that rhythm of 1076 01:06:49,720 --> 01:06:52,840 Speaker 1: nature that has been established for thousands and thousands of 1077 01:06:53,000 --> 01:06:59,280 Speaker 1: years continues to hold strong so that the next generation 1078 01:07:00,120 --> 01:07:03,120 Speaker 1: can be possible. And you can witness that, and you 1079 01:07:03,200 --> 01:07:06,800 Speaker 1: can see all that potential and all that hope floating 1080 01:07:06,880 --> 01:07:10,000 Speaker 1: up right before your eyes. And it's um to me, 1081 01:07:10,160 --> 01:07:15,280 Speaker 1: It's it's what it keeps me going cool. Well, Sex 1082 01:07:15,360 --> 01:07:18,000 Speaker 1: and the Cy is the book. It is currently out 1083 01:07:18,160 --> 01:07:22,520 Speaker 1: on hardcover, e book, audio book, and UM. As we've 1084 01:07:22,760 --> 01:07:26,320 Speaker 1: stressed a several different times on the podcast on past 1085 01:07:26,360 --> 01:07:30,200 Speaker 1: podcast episodes, it's just a delightful, insightful read full of 1086 01:07:30,360 --> 01:07:35,640 Speaker 1: just some mind blowing but also entertaining content. We've recommended 1087 01:07:35,640 --> 01:07:38,040 Speaker 1: it as as just a perfect bit of summer reading 1088 01:07:38,080 --> 01:07:41,280 Speaker 1: for our listeners. Yeah. In fact, we just did our 1089 01:07:41,320 --> 01:07:43,840 Speaker 1: summer reading episode a couple of weeks ago, and uh 1090 01:07:44,120 --> 01:07:46,920 Speaker 1: we recommended this book Maraw to our listeners. And and 1091 01:07:47,040 --> 01:07:50,520 Speaker 1: also I just want to say that I really appreciate 1092 01:07:50,720 --> 01:07:53,439 Speaker 1: the work that you put into your prose in this book. 1093 01:07:53,560 --> 01:07:57,920 Speaker 1: And just the analogies and similes and metaphors, the kind 1094 01:07:57,920 --> 01:08:00,760 Speaker 1: of work that you do there make it so much 1095 01:08:00,800 --> 01:08:03,600 Speaker 1: more readable than the hundreds of articles that we read 1096 01:08:03,640 --> 01:08:09,600 Speaker 1: on similar topics and really kind of picturesque too. Yeah, oh, 1097 01:08:09,800 --> 01:08:12,840 Speaker 1: thank you. I appreciate that, and appreciate so much the 1098 01:08:12,920 --> 01:08:15,280 Speaker 1: support you guys have have given for it, and I'm 1099 01:08:15,480 --> 01:08:18,879 Speaker 1: I'm just hopeful that your listeners will find it entertaining 1100 01:08:19,000 --> 01:08:23,880 Speaker 1: and inspiring and hopefully some really good cocktail party fodder. 1101 01:08:24,080 --> 01:08:30,720 Speaker 1: So definitely unfacts around the barbecue, all right. So there 1102 01:08:30,800 --> 01:08:34,280 Speaker 1: you have it, a whole lot of coral biology, a 1103 01:08:34,320 --> 01:08:37,240 Speaker 1: whole lot of coral sex, if you will, and some 1104 01:08:37,520 --> 01:08:43,000 Speaker 1: some sobering but indeed hopefully optimistic information about where we 1105 01:08:43,080 --> 01:08:47,360 Speaker 1: are in terms of coral loss and um readjusting pivoting 1106 01:08:47,400 --> 01:08:50,519 Speaker 1: if you will, to try and um and and and 1107 01:08:50,680 --> 01:08:53,439 Speaker 1: say these species that that do so much for our ecology. 1108 01:08:53,560 --> 01:08:55,360 Speaker 1: And one of the things that I really loved about 1109 01:08:55,439 --> 01:08:58,800 Speaker 1: this interview is that while we had done research ahead 1110 01:08:58,800 --> 01:09:00,800 Speaker 1: of time and prepton, we'd read her book, and we 1111 01:09:00,880 --> 01:09:03,680 Speaker 1: were we were ready to have this conversation. You know, 1112 01:09:03,800 --> 01:09:06,400 Speaker 1: Mara in just the last week could already looking new 1113 01:09:06,439 --> 01:09:09,519 Speaker 1: stuff because the science is moving so fast. So you 1114 01:09:09,680 --> 01:09:12,600 Speaker 1: heard it here first, folks, or maybe maybe there are 1115 01:09:12,640 --> 01:09:14,799 Speaker 1: some articles that came out of that conference she was mentioning. 1116 01:09:14,920 --> 01:09:17,080 Speaker 1: But you know, I'm glad that we were able to 1117 01:09:17,120 --> 01:09:20,439 Speaker 1: talk about all these changes with hybridization that scientists are 1118 01:09:20,479 --> 01:09:23,960 Speaker 1: realizing about. Indeed, yeah, some some really cool data from 1119 01:09:23,960 --> 01:09:25,640 Speaker 1: the book and and and some stuff that has just 1120 01:09:25,840 --> 01:09:28,360 Speaker 1: come out in the last couple of weeks. So Okay, 1121 01:09:28,479 --> 01:09:31,280 Speaker 1: you out there, maybe you have an experience like Robert 1122 01:09:31,320 --> 01:09:34,439 Speaker 1: where he went to Jamaica. Have you been up closing 1123 01:09:34,640 --> 01:09:37,400 Speaker 1: personal with coral reefs? Tell us about it based sent 1124 01:09:37,520 --> 01:09:40,639 Speaker 1: us your pictures, let us know what you think about 1125 01:09:40,680 --> 01:09:43,640 Speaker 1: the coloral bleaching effects that are going on. You can 1126 01:09:43,720 --> 01:09:46,840 Speaker 1: do that on social media. We are all over the 1127 01:09:46,920 --> 01:09:49,720 Speaker 1: place on social media. Were lousy with social media, as 1128 01:09:49,800 --> 01:09:54,040 Speaker 1: Josh Clark likes to say. We're on Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, 1129 01:09:54,320 --> 01:09:57,880 Speaker 1: and Instagram as Blow the Mind. And you can always 1130 01:09:58,000 --> 01:10:00,559 Speaker 1: visit us at our home base at stuff to Blow 1131 01:10:00,600 --> 01:10:02,880 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. And I want to throw into 1132 01:10:03,080 --> 01:10:06,720 Speaker 1: you know with Facebook, the algorithm is always changing. Uh, 1133 01:10:07,040 --> 01:10:10,720 Speaker 1: if you would visit us Blow the Mind on Facebook, 1134 01:10:11,200 --> 01:10:13,880 Speaker 1: visit us there. Make sure that you're subscribed, but also 1135 01:10:13,960 --> 01:10:16,200 Speaker 1: make sure that you've hit the adjustment so that we 1136 01:10:16,280 --> 01:10:18,200 Speaker 1: show up in your fee, because that's going to ensure 1137 01:10:18,280 --> 01:10:20,880 Speaker 1: that no matter what changes in the Facebook algorithm, we 1138 01:10:21,000 --> 01:10:23,400 Speaker 1: can still get our content to you. Yeah, And basically 1139 01:10:23,479 --> 01:10:25,360 Speaker 1: this is so that you can be updated whenever a 1140 01:10:25,400 --> 01:10:27,680 Speaker 1: new podcast episode comes out, or we can let you 1141 01:10:27,760 --> 01:10:30,720 Speaker 1: know when Robert or I or Joe have recorded a 1142 01:10:30,840 --> 01:10:33,719 Speaker 1: video about something related to the show or published an article. 1143 01:10:34,160 --> 01:10:36,360 Speaker 1: And if you're fed up with all the social media stuff, 1144 01:10:36,520 --> 01:10:39,040 Speaker 1: as one can can be in this day and age, 1145 01:10:39,240 --> 01:10:41,759 Speaker 1: there's always email. That's the way to get something directly 1146 01:10:41,840 --> 01:10:44,680 Speaker 1: to us, no in between third party, and you can 1147 01:10:44,720 --> 01:10:47,400 Speaker 1: reach us via email at blow the Mind at how 1148 01:10:47,479 --> 01:10:58,960 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com or more on this and thousands 1149 01:10:59,000 --> 01:11:01,360 Speaker 1: of other topics. Is that how stuff works dot com. 1150 01:11:15,960 --> 01:11:17,680 Speaker 1: Fou