Orbicella annularis, a Caribbean coral with rounded columns, and Acropora divaricata, a Pacific coral with cushion-shaped plates, are both stony corals—the type that builds reefs. Boosting stony coral colonies globally is a key objective for ecologists, as microplastic pollution and other pressures increasingly harm reefs. In the wild, crustose coralline algae (CCA) encourage growth of the healthy reefs they inhabit by emitting lipids and other metabolites—chemical cues that induce coral larvae settlement. Biotechnology researcher Zahra Karimi and team have created a tool to reinstate those cues in damaged reefs: a gel coating embedded with metabolites derived from Pacific CCA. In tests with Montipora capitata, a Pacific stony coral, settlement rates increased substantially.
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Verbal·Information and Ideas·Command of Evidence
hardWhich finding, if true, would best support a claim that the new tool already has the capacity to support the scope of the ecologists’ objective?
A
When CCA are present and emitting lipids and other metabolites, larvae settlement rates improve almost as much in damaged reefs with Montipora capitata as they do in healthy reefs with that coral.
B
The lipids and other metabolites derived from Pacific CCA appear to remain stable for long periods across a range of water temperatures and environmental conditions.
C
In Pacific reefs, higher concentrations of lipids and other metabolites emitted by local CCA are associated with larger colonies of Acropora divaricata and greater overall diversity of coral species.
D
Exposure to lipids and other metabolites emitted by CCA from Pacific reefs improves settlement rates for larvae of Orbicella annularis and a range of other coral species in regions other than the Pacific.