{"id":4449,"date":"2025-06-18T22:42:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T22:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/?p=4449"},"modified":"2025-10-09T22:42:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T22:42:37","slug":"conservation-ocean-coral-reefs-endangered-foxes-giant-kelp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/wrigley\/2025\/06\/18\/conservation-ocean-coral-reefs-endangered-foxes-giant-kelp\/","title":{"rendered":"From ocean corals to island foxes, Wrigley Institute experts seek to save threatened species"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Wrigley Institute-supported experts are aiding threatened species and ecosystems, including ocean corals, giant kelp, and the critically endangered Channel Islands fox. (Illustration: Maria Francesca Melis)\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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From ocean corals to island foxes, Wrigley Institute experts seek to save threatened species<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n June 18, 2025<\/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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Original story by Tomas Weber<\/em><\/p>\n

Across USC, Wrigley Institute-supported experts are aiding threatened species and ecosystems.<\/p>\n

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Race Against Extinction<\/h2>\n

Seven years ago, marine biologist\u00a0Carly Kenkel<\/a>\u00a0began transplanting hundreds of farmed coral specimens to reef habitats off the Florida Keys to study how they grow in natural conditions. But during the unprecedented Caribbean heat wave of summer 2023, she rushed to Florida \u2014 only to find 98% of her coral, and much of the surrounding reef, had died.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of sites were just devastated,\u201d says Kenkel, Wilford and Daris Zinsmeyer Early Career Chair in Marine Studies. \u201cAnd in the Caribbean, whenever a reef is lost, it doesn\u2019t come back. This system has lost its natural capacity to heal itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the wake of the catastrophe, many experts deemed Caribbean corals beyond saving, but Kenkel disagreed. Although the reefs can no longer recover naturally, she believed scientists could help by using pioneering techniques. \u201cIf we want to save the Caribbean reefs, our only hope is human intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those novel methods is best described as IVF for coral: Scientists would freeze coral eggs and sperm for future use while banking living specimens in aquariums. This buys time while the world works to slow climate change. \u201cIt\u2019s a last-resort insurance policy,\u201d says Kenkel, associate professor of\u00a0biological sciences<\/a>. \u201cBut the biology is tricky. Spawning happens only once a year, so it\u2019s a race against time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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VIDEO: Carly Kenkel talks with legendary oceanographer Sylvia Earle about why we can still have hope for the world’s coral reefs<\/h4>\n