How humans are engineering the future of coral reefs
Alex Parkin
How do you bring back a vanishing coral reef? That’s what conservationists are racing to do in the Florida Keys, where they’re coming up with a whole new playbook for saving corals.
Over the summer, they did what used to be the unthinkable: they took thousands of corals out of the sea to save them from a killer ocean heatwave. Hot tub-like temperatures might have wiped them out otherwise. Now, what’s next?
The Verge visited the evacuated corals where they found temporary refuge on land. We spent time at a gene bank, home to a new generation of baby corals that could one day repopulate Florida’s reefs. And we learned how to map restoration efforts out in the open ocean.
It’s all part of a massive effort to safeguard a future for coral…
