Biscayne National Park: Raising baby corals in America's barrier reef

The Wild with Chris Morgan

KUOW News and Information

Science, Nature

4.8 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

How scientists are training corals to be ready for a warmer future.

Biscayne National Park is unlike any other national park…it’s 95% underwater. It’s home to part of the third largest coral reef in the world and the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States.

But this past summer, the corals in and around this park on Florida’s coral reef experienced the worst coral bleaching event ever recorded. Water temperatures broke records, rising to over 100 degrees for two days in a row. Hot tub water.

So what can be done? In this episode, Chris takes a boat out to Biscayne National Park to find out. Here, just a few miles offshore from the metropolis of Miami, researchers are on a mission to save these corals for a warmer future - by growing the hardiest of them in captivity, and planting them back in the sea.

This show would not be possible without listener support. You can help us continue to create this special immersive storytelling by donating at kuow.org/donate/thewild. Thank you.

For some great photographs and clips from our journey through the national parks, check out our Instagram @thewildpod and @chrismorganwildlife.

THE WILD is a production of KUOW, Chris Morgan Wildlife, and the NPR Network. This episode was produced by Lucy Soucek and edited by Jim Gates. THE WILD is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Our theme music is by Michael Parker.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is free and it's accessible to everyone thanks to support from listeners like you.
0:06.1	If you value this show, please consider supporting its production by donating to our home, KUAW. It only takes a minute to give and you'll be helping to support
0:16.5	the production of this podcast. Make a donation at KUOW.org or follow the link in the show notes.
0:24.5	And thanks.
0:26.5	Hi everyone, Chris here.
0:28.2	I just wanted to let you know that we're expanding this season of the Wild
0:31.5	to include three different types of episodes so you're
0:34.6	beginning even more great content from us every week. First there's our new
0:39.6	series on America's National Parks coming out every three weeks.
0:45.0	We'll also be presenting episodes featuring interviews with the sharpest minds in wildlife conservation
0:51.1	and dipping into our archives and sharing our favorite shows from the past with new
0:55.8	commentary from me.
0:57.5	Enjoy.
0:58.5	All right, let's see what I can see.
1:05.0	Picture a coral reef. Maybe you see rocks and turrets in colourful arrangements, fish darting left and right. Octopus is backing into holes. Crabs skittering across crusty
1:28.9	surfaces. Maybe a scuba-diver or two trailing bubbles as they fin gently above the scene.
1:36.3	There's a tiny magical being at the root of all this activity.
1:40.3	The reef is the work of billions of soft-bodied organisms known as coral polyps.
1:47.0	These squishy animals can be as small as a sesame seed,
1:52.0	but are some of the world's most impressive builders.
1:55.0	When they're young, they drift, helpless in the ocean currents.
1:59.0	But once a pollut bumps into something hard, where it can live, often a cluster of its friends. It attaches itself and starts to
	...

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