Dead coral reefs are one among the major horrors resulting from human impact, with thousands of miles of coral ecosystems around the world being turned into bleached-out graveyards because of the disastrous impact of fast-heating ocean temperatures, pollution, rising sea levels, and overfishing.
For many years, the Great Barrier Reef off Australia's coast—the world's most massive living structure—has faced a slow death, with countless corals dying while the rest of the once-dazzling coral transforms into bleached, lifeless matter.
However, scientists have now discovered a genius way to bring the dead patches of the Great Barrier Reef back to life: by playing the ambient sounds of nature through loudspeakers to lure fish to the area. Then, the fish would help to clean up the reef, allowing for fresh corals to grow so that reef ecosystems can recover.
Scientists had been worrying about the deadly quiet surrounding damaged coral reefs that once teemed with the sound of healthy marine life, creating a sort of oceanic orchestra of sounds from fish, shrimp, and various other reef denizens. However, without the sound of such traffic, many fish simply avoid the dead zones.
Therefore, a team of researchers led by marine biologists at the University of Exeter set up a system of submarine loudspeakers to play recordings of healthy reefs in a bid to attract the attention of fish to the dead coral patches around Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef.
The results (published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Communications) were amazing.
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