How does coral grow

What they found will help scientists predict more precisely how corals throughout the world will fare under ocean acidification. Coral skeletons are made of aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate. To grow up toward sunlight, corals construct a framework of aragonite crystals. At the same time, they buttress this framework with bundles of additional crystals, which thicken and strengthen the skeletons to help them withstand breakage caused by currents, waves, storms, and boring and biting by worms, molluscs, and parrotfish.

Ocean acidification is caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, mostly from burning fossil fuels. Laboratory experiments and field studies, however, have shown that acidification affects skeletal growth in some cases, but not in others. Something Mollica had never envisioned he would be doing in his career. Mollica grew up in Fort Collins, Colo. I said, I would, because I thought it would get me out of a tight spot with my parents.

His high school team won regional, then state, competitions, and went to the national Science Olympiad every year. He also competed in a Jeopardy-style competition called the Science Bowl. His favorite subject was geology, which led him to apply to the Colorado School of Mines. The school was primed to train students to go into applied fields in the oil and gas industry or civil engineering.

More specifically, the lab focused on how corals are affected by their environment, and how that, in turn, affects their ability to produce carbonate skeleton. Coral reefs have persisted through geological history and built most of the carbonate geology that there is.

It was cool to be handed what I was looking for without knowing what I was looking for. I never thought I was going to be an oceanographer—right up until it happened. Among the first things Mollica had to do when he arrived at WHOI was take a month-long course to learn how to scuba dive for his research. He and colleagues dove on reefs and used a drill to extract tubular, 3.

From the scans, they could discern the upward and thickening components of the coral growth. You can download the still images below to use when teaching how corals build reefs — just right click and 'Save Image As'.

Get up close and personal views of corals that you can't even get underwater! Look at corals from all angles with these free 3D models created by The Hydrous.

These models are accurate representations of living corals, made by stitching together 2-dimensional photographs collected by snorkelers and SCUBA divers. Two of the biggest challenges to truly understanding how corals live are the minuscule size of individual coral polyps and their painfully slow rate of growth and reproduction. To overcome these challenges, coral reef ecologists and technologists have developed tools that allow them to see corals at an unprecedented scale and pace.

Armed with a suite of underwater time-lapse microscopes, ecologists can now peer into the secret lives of coral polyps and study how these tiny organisms grow, reproduce, construct their calcium carbonate homes, and interact with their symbiotic algae.

While this video doesn't necessarily cover the following standards in depth, it is a compelling resource you can use to supplement your curriculum that does. By building an edible polyp, you'll learn about coral anatomy and discover if it's a plant or an animal.

Sign up for event updates and exciting announcements. Learn more. Many coral reef animals play important roles within coral reef ecosystems. For example, herbivores like parrotfish and sea turtles graze on algae and help keep algae populations under control.

When herbivore populations decline, coral reefs can quickly become overtaken with algae. Corals usually develop into one of three characteristic structures: fringing reefs, barrier reefs or atolls.

Learn more and view a larger image. As coral reefs grow, they establish characteristic biogeographic patterns. Learn more and view an animation. How Do Coral Reefs Form?

Corals Tutorial.