Coral plants are fast-growing evergreen shrubs that thrive in warm climates. Their serrated leaves add tropical flair and attract butterflies.
Corals may seem like rocks due to their hard outer shells and pits for anchorage. Still, corals are animals that harness solar energy through a mutualistic relationship with plant-like algae known as zooxanthellae.
Polyps
Corals are flowering shrubs from the Euphorbiaceae family that produce beautiful red flowers with distinctive foliage. Corals are ideal for adding tropical charm and texture. They require ample sunlight to thrive while being vulnerable to spider mites and mealybug infestations; you can prevent these problems by decreasing water use while applying insecticidal soap or neem oil to their foliage.
Coral reefs are vast, rocky ocean structures supporting fish and marine life. Their formation occurs through biomineralization when small coral polyps secrete calcium carbonate from seawater into a complex, cup-shaped skeleton that protects its soft body. After death occurs, this hard shell remains behind. It allows new corals to form upon it – eventually creating what looks like an organ, cluster of columns, or branching tree-like formation over time – known as a coral reef.
Coral reefs may appear static, but their colorful surfaces are designed for harm. Corals belong to the Cnidaria phylum (which also encompasses anemones, jellyfish, and hydrozoans), so their cells possess stinging cells known as Nematocysts that contain barbs that penetrate prey’s skin like zooplankton or baby octopus before pulling it into its polyp’s mouth where it’s digested before expelled.
Many coral species are multicellular organisms that reproduce asexually by releasing male sperm and female eggs into the water. Still, for spawning to occur, it requires contact between coral polyps in an area, which simultaneously release their male sperm and eggs at precisely the same time. This phenomenon is called coral polyp synchronization; all species in an area release male sperm and eggs simultaneously into their environment.
Skeletons
Coral reefs are formed by coral species that excavate calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from their coral skeletons to create complex, rock-like structures that support living coral polyps. Reefs host over 25% of marine species, making them biodiversity hotspots.
Hard coral skeletons come in various forms and sizes. The hard coral’s skeletons come in all shapes and sizes, from ridged and valleyed surfaces to smooth and round ones. Made up mostly of calcium carbonate-based mineral called aragonite, corals build their skeletons to grow toward sunlight by depositing an accumulation of crystals that thicken and strengthen it; polyps deposit more aragonite crystals as part of this process to reinforce its thickness and strength as well as protection from waves, currents storms as well as dull and biting by mollusks or parrotfish alike.
Scientists who study coral use tubular, 3.5-centimeter cores to extract aged skeletons for in-depth examination by scientists studying them. By studying their chemical makeup, scientists can reconstruct environmental conditions when they formed. Coral skeletons contain different concentrations of carbonate ions, so it’s possible to ascertain pH and carbonate ion levels when created.
Research like Pupa Gilbert’s can provide us with insights into how changes to their environment impact corals. Her team’s work, for instance, shows that corals ingest carbonate during biomineralization — the process by which living organisms construct mineral structures– which might provide some protection against ocean acidification, which has been known to accelerate coral skeletal decomposition rates.
Zooxanthellae
Coral reefs are some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, yet they are highly vulnerable to environmental stressors like rising ocean temperatures and increased nutrient loading. When combined, these ecological stressors can lead to coral bleaching when their relationship with zooxanthellae (marine single-celled photosynthetic algae in the Genus Symbiodinium that live symbiotically with hard corals, sea anemones, gorgonians) breaks down. Zooxanthellae are single-celled photosynthetic marine algae in Genus Symbiodinium that create symbioses with hard corals as part of an extended symbiotic partnership (Zooxanthellae live in close conjunction with hard corals as symbiotic partners).
Corals depend on zooxanthellae for survival in tropical waters that lack food and nutrition, sheltering them while getting up to 90 percent of their sustenance from photosynthesis produced by these alga. Corals, in turn, supply the zooxanthellae with carbon dioxide, nitrogenous waste products, and phosphorous from cellular respiration – essential elements to their well-being.
Coral reefs are notable and remarkable ecosystems, but like any relationship, their close symbiosis is subject to stress caused by changes in conditions. Rising ocean temperatures due to human carbon emissions have put undue strain on corals; as a result, some have overheated and expelled their zooxanthellae, leading them to extinction.
Coral reefs rely on the mutualistic relationship among corals, zooxanthellae, and the fish that feed on them to maintain health. Preventing coral bleaching is one of the best ways to ensure the long-term survival of this essential marine ecosystem. To maintain optimal conditions in your coral plant environment, its soil must be fertilized regularly using all-purpose plant food that contains an N-P-K ratio of 8-12-8; proper watering also should be implemented while overwatering must be avoided; finally, coral plants can become susceptible to spider mites or mealybug infestation so any infestation must be treated immediately.
Food
Coral reefs are among the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems but are in grave peril. Chasing Coral, an award-winning Netflix documentary, detailed their magnificence while showing that they provide shelter and food to one-quarter of ocean fish species. While coral may appear like plants, they’re marine invertebrates related to sea anemones and jellyfish; instead of photosynthesizing energy themselves they form an intimate partnership with single-celled algae known as Zooxanthellae that gives them protection while sharing energy produced; each side benefits in exchange.
Over 500 million years, corals have established a symbiotic partnership with algae that benefits both organisms. Coral polyps provide carbon dioxide for the algae to breathe while the latter provide much-needed energy from sugars. Corals also feed by catching tiny floating creatures known as zooplankton; at night, they come out of their skeletons with stinging tentacles to capture prey.
Maintain the health of your coral bells all year by using water-soluble fertilizers with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium as needed to promote their healthy growth and abundant blooms. Organic compost may also help increase drainage and increase nutrient availability; choose high-quality organic products like Miracle-Gro EZ-Gro Organic Rose & Flower Fertilizer as it’s organic yet works instantly while offering micronutrient protection from insects like aphids, Japanese beetles, powdery mildew, or black spot!
Climate change
Global climate change caused by human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases has significant environmental consequences, including melting glaciers and ice sheets, warming ocean temperatures, altering rainfall patterns, and altering geographical ranges of plants and animals. Without drastic reductions of carbon emissions, these changes will likely persist for the foreseeable future.
Warmer waters and changes to ocean chemistry, such as acidification, are among the most significant threats facing coral reefs today. Rising ocean temperatures can cause corals to lose their symbiotic algae and turn white or bleach out entirely, eventually dying off as their oxygen requirements decline.
Acidification occurs when carbon dioxide from the atmosphere combines with seawater to make it more acidic, making the atmosphere even more acidic than before and decreasing the availability of dissolved salts and minerals essential to coral development. This decrease can slow coral skeleton formation while restricting access to critical resources corals need for their health and survival.
Nutrient pollution from land run-off can disrupt ocean chemistry by increasing concentrations of nutrients and chemicals in coastal waters. These nutrients encourage algae blooms that block sunlight, depriving coral reefs of oxygen for respiration and leading to disease outbreaks in reef systems.
The Hawaii Coral Restoration Nursery (HCRN) is an innovative state of Hawaii program that grows small corals at its land-based nursery before outplanting them to damaged or degraded reefs. Part of an innovative State approach, HCRN helps mitigate both planned (coastal development, dredging, quarrying, and destructive fishing practices) and unplanned stressors (vessel groundings and pollution spills) stressors on coral reefs.