{"id":1329,"date":"2023-12-05T07:13:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T07:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-usc-dornsife.pantheonsite.io\/wrigley\/?p=1329"},"modified":"2026-04-02T22:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:54:10","slug":"climate-change-ocean-warming-coral-reefs-summer-2023-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2023\/12\/05\/climate-change-ocean-warming-coral-reefs-summer-2023-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"A Devastating Summer for Coral Reefs\u2013and How to Help Save Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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A Devastating Summer for Coral Reefs\u2013and How to Help Save Them<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n By<\/span>Kathryn Royster<\/strong>\n \n December 5, 2023<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Carly Kenkel will never forget the summer of 2023.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An assistant professor of biological sciences, Kenkel was recently named the Wilford and Daris Zinsmeyer Early Career Chair in Marine Studies in recognition of her work on coral genetics, which she has been researching for 15 years.<\/p>\n

In June 2023, her team traveled to Florida to begin summer field research, as they\u2019d done many times before. Kenkel and her collaborators have undertaken\u00a0several transplant experiments<\/a>, moving corals around the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas, island chains located between Cuba and the southern tip of mainland Florida. The corals are often sourced\u00a0 from partner restoration organizations like\u00a0Mote Marine Lab<\/a>, which grows coral\u00a0 in nearby \u201cnurseries\u201d to help restore reefs that have been damaged by climate change.<\/p>\n

After transplanting the new corals, Kenkel and her students then collect data on previous years\u2019 transplants, in part by photographing the corals and stitching the photos together to create 3D models. Once back at USC,\u00a0the Kenkel lab<\/a>\u00a0can work with the models to take measurements of the corals. They combine these measurements with other data to help them determine how the corals\u2019 genetic makeup and local environmental conditions affect shape, size, and survival, thereby shedding light on the corals\u2019\u00a0utility for conservation and restoration projects<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Climate Change-El Ni\u00f1o Combination Triggers Unprecedented Damage<\/h3>\n

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The summer of 2023, however, did not go as planned. Due to the combined forces of climate change and an emerging El Ni\u00f1o system, the waters around Florida experienced a warming trend so drastic and unprecedented that it rapidly wiped out almost all of Kenkel\u2019s transplants.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust three weeks after our regular nine-month check up on the transplants in the Florida Keys, I had to send the students back to re-survey our sites because we were worried we\u2019d have no chance to collect data otherwise,\u201d Kenkel says.<\/p>\n

The plan was to revisit the Dry Tortugas at the one-year interval because the location is too remote for frequent travel. This year, however, an emergency visit had to be arranged in September to capture data before all the coral transplanted in June were bleached or killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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