The ‘Elegant’ Math Model That Could Help Rescue Coral Reefs
1 min read
Summary
Coral reefs, which have formed on Earth for millions of years, are both a physical structure that supports a wide array of marine life and the animal that constructs that structure, a tiny polyp.
Such polyps collectively grow into diverse shapes, including shelves, boulders, pillars, branches and cauliflower-like nubs.
A team of marine biologists and a physicist are developing a computer model that uses simple rules to understand how these polyps grow into such complex structures.
The model could help predict how coral shapes may change in response to environmental shifts, and thus help scientists protect them.
It could also guide efforts to rebuild coral structures, which are being lost to climate change.
The work illustrates the emerging role of theoretical ecology in predicting how ecosystems may change in the future due to environmental stresses.
