Imagine you’re swimming lazily along, just below the water’s surface in a tropical ocean. You look down at a colorful array of pinks, yellows and greens. Spikey corals cover the floor below. Small fish swim in and out of hiding places, ducking behind the stationary animals to avoid your peering eyes.
Imagine you’re swimming lazily along, just below the water’s surface in a tropical ocean. You look down at a colorful array of pinks, yellows and greens. Spikey corals cover the floor below. Small fish swim in and out of hiding places, ducking behind the stationary animals to avoid your peering eyes.
You emerge from the water. The air is warm, and humidity surrounds you like a blanket. But instead of a blue sky, you look around and see gray walls, pipes, strings of LED lights, ceramic tiles and white buckets full of sea salt. There’s a low hum of water pumps, and the room glows fluorescent blue.
This is actually Eli Meyer’s research lab at Oregon State University. You were drifting in the 10-foot long fish tanks where Meyer and Ph.D. student Katie Dziedzic study how coral are adapting to the changing oceans.
Hobbyists have been growing coral in saltwater aquariums for decades, but the idea is just catching on with coral researchers. “Historically, coral research has relied on field work, which is incredibly limiting. More recently, many of us have turned to growing corals in lab aquariums.” says Meyer.
Continue reading at Oregon State University.
Photo via Oregon State University.
