A new study published by Georgia Tech has found that designating a damaged reef as a marine protected area (MPA) might not be enough to help speed its recovery. “If you’re setting up a marine protected area to seed recruitment into a degraded habitat, that recruitment may not happen if young fish and coral are not recognizing the degraded area as habitat,” said Danielle Dixson, an assistant professor in the School of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, and the study’s first author. Dixson and her team found that chemical cues given off by invading algae can deter new fish and coral alike from reforming the reef.
Using raceways and reef fish Dixson and her team applied the method to coral (as well as fish) for the study and found that coral larva can also smell out a suitable habitat and make a decision whether or not to settle. “Not only are coral smelling good areas versus bad areas, but they’re nuanced about it. They’re making careful decisions and can say, ‘settle or don’t settle” said senior author Mark Hay, a professor in the School of Biology at Georgia Tech. Dixson adds that “Corals avoided that smell more than even algae that’s chemically toxic to coral but doesn’t bloom.” Read more here!… More:
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