With rising global temperatures, pollution, overfishing, ocean acidification, and other problems caused by humans, today’s coral reefs are in trouble. As predictions about the future of these ecosystems grow increasingly dire, scientists are looking in an unlikely place for new ways to save corals: the past. The reefs of yesteryear faced challenges too, from changing sea levels to temperature shifts, and understanding how they survived and when they faltered can help guide efforts to ensure a future for reefs.
Writer and geoscientist Lisa S. Gardiner explores the latest scientific discoveries through the lens of her own expeditions to tropical locales, revealing how fossils and other reef remains provide clues about coral resilience through time. By studying the fossilized limestone cities left behind by ancient corals and evidence of how reefs have fared in recent decades and centuries, she says, scientists are learning how we can best help reefs survive the environmental challenges of the present.
Her book, Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal About Coral Survival (Princeton University Press), is available for purchase.
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