Threats To Coral Reefs What Can Be Done

I am not a super fact hunter today. This post is about an interesting book that I recently finished reading, “Life on the Rocks: Building a Future for Coral Reefs by Juli Berwald”, a prominent marine biologist based in Austin, Texas. Coral Reefs are underappreciated. They are extremely important to the ocean’s ecosystems. A fourth of all marine species depend on the reef at some point in their life. Coral reefs are also very important to us humans for a variety of reasons.

Unfortunately, today’s coral reefs are assaulted by a host of environmental stresses. The largest is climate change, or if you call it global warming, which is warming marine ecosystems even faster than those on land. 75% of the reef building corals in the world have already been damaged by high seawater temperatures. This book is about corals, what they are, how they live and evolve, their DNA, and what is being done to save the coral reefs. The book is heavy on the science at the same time as it is not tough reading. She is a great author as well as scientist.

Life on the Rocks Book Formats

Life on the Rocks: Building a Future for Coral Reefs by Juli Berwald comes in four formats. I bought the hardback format.

  • Hardcover –  Riverhead Books (April 5, 2022), ISBN-10 : 0593087305, ISBN-13 : 978-0593087305, 352 pages, item weight : 1.25 pounds, dimensions : ‎ 6.31 x 1.11 x 9.26 inches, it costs $ 3.98 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Paperback –  Publisher : Riverhead Books (April 4, 2023), ISBN-10 : 0593087313, ISBN-13 : 978-0593087312, 352 pages, item weight : 9.2 ounces, dimensions : ‎ 5.19 x 0.91 x 7.93 inches, it costs $ 15.44 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Publisher : Riverhead Books (April 5, 2022), ASIN : B098PWTYLL, ISBN-13 : 978-0593087329, 348 pages, it costs $9.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Audio–  Publisher : Penguin Audio (April 05, 2022), Listening Length : 10 hours and 52 minutes, ASIN : B09B83BHH1, it costs $ 15.75 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of hardback format of the book Life on the Rocks: Building a Future for Coral Reefs by Juli Berwald | Threats To Coral Reefs What Can Be Done
Front cover of hardback format of the book Life on the Rocks: Building a Future for Coral Reefs by Juli Berwald. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.

Amazon’s Description of Life on the Rocks

FINALIST FOR THE L.A. TIMES BOOK PRIZE

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER AND BOOKLIST

The story of the urgent fight to save coral reefs, and why it matters to us all

Coral reefs are a microcosm of our planet: extraordinarily diverse, deeply interconnected, and full of wonders. When they’re thriving, these fairy gardens hidden beneath the ocean’s surface burst with color and life. They sustain bountiful ecosystems and protect vulnerable coasts. Corals themselves are evolutionary marvels that build elaborate limestone formations from their collective skeletons, broker symbiotic relationships with algae, and manufacture their own fluorescent sunblock. But corals across the planet are in the middle of an unprecedented die-off, beset by warming oceans, pollution, damage by humans, and a devastating pandemic.

Juli Berwald fell in love with coral reefs as a marine biology student, entranced by their beauty and complexity. Alarmed by their peril, she traveled the world to discover how to prevent their loss. She met scientists and activists operating in emergency mode, doing everything they can think of to prevent coral reefs from disappearing forever. She was so amazed by the ingenuity of these last-ditch efforts that she joined in rescue missions, unexpected partnerships, and risky experiments, and helped rebuild reefs with rebar and zip ties.

Life on the Rocks is an inspiring, lucid, meditative ode to the reefs and the undaunted scientists working to save them against almost impossible odds. As she also attempts to help her daughter in her struggle with mental illness, Berwald explores what it means to keep fighting a battle whose outcome is uncertain. She contemplates the inevitable grief of climate change and the beauty of small victories.

My five-star review for Life on the Rocks

Interesting Science an Important Message and the Beauty of Corals

Coral reefs are incredibly important to the ocean and its ecosystems. A fourth of all marine species depend on the reef at some point in their life. Coral reefs are also very important to us humans for a variety of reasons. However, today’s coral reefs are assaulted by a host of environmental stresses. The largest is climate change, or if you call it global warming, which is warming marine ecosystems even faster than those on land. 75% of the reef building corals in the world have already been damaged by high seawater temperatures.

Our burning of fossil fuels also causes ocean acidification. The effects of ocean acidification have not yet damaged corals but will in the future. Add to that, hurricanes (getting worse due to climate change), diseases (SCTLD), pollution, fertilizer and sewage runoff, wild harvesting of corals for export, loss of urchins, illegal fishing, such as using explosives to catch fish (blast fishing), and cyanide. In 2009 70% of all fish in fish markets had telltale scars from explosions and in 2016 more than half the fish in aquarium shops tested positive for cyanide poisoning. The explosives and the cyanide destroy coral reefs. We know what’s causing the loss of coral reefs, but we also know how to solve these things: stop burning fossil fuels, manage fishing, prioritize sanitation, and control pollution.

This book will teach you about corals, that they are marine animal related to jellyfish and sea anemones, consisting of hundreds to thousands of tiny individual polyps that form colonies. That they are in a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae. That the algae power the coral by making sugar and the coral provides the supplies the alga needs to make that power. They are 160 million years old.

You will learn about the history of the oceans pH level (acidity). different species, coral bleaching, hybridization and reticulated evolution. You will learn about the threats to corals and the efforts to save the coral reefs. The author is a distinguished scientist who does a lot of research and scuba diving. She takes you on an underwater (and above water) journey around the world, Florida, Sulawesi, Bali, Dominican Republic, and Australia, like Jacques Costeau used to do.

The efforts to save the corals include coral restoration, which is very difficult and expensive, coral farming, marine protected areas, aquarium hobbyists growing corals, cryobiology/ cryogenics, which is a futuristic technology involving freezing and later restoring corals in a better future. It should be noted that as warming events and coral bleaching events kill corals the ones that survive are better equipped to survive future warming. This is not so much adaptation as evolution by natural selection. Even though this can give you hope, one should remember that the current warming is very fast and even if evolution might save some corals, it changes the composition of coral species.

However, scientists have sequenced coral DNA and are trying to identify the genes that help some corals to survive warming events better than other corals. This could lead to assisted evolution. The author also addresses geoengineering techniques to slow down climate change such as marine cloud brightening, and she discusses the tragedy of the commons.

This book is full of facts and interesting science. However, it is not a difficult read. In addition, she makes it more colorful and personal by discussing her personal opinions on issues, her daughter’s mental illness caused by a lingering strep throat infection, her experiences with covid-19, and as mentioned, this book is organized as a journey around the world. I should mention that I felt that some of her personal opinions and personal stories may have been distractions, especially when I could not agree with what she said. But I thought that was a minor issue. She is a great author who knows how to keep an audience captivated despite all the science. She lists 292 references. It is a very well-written and interesting science book about corals. I learned a lot from reading this book. I highly recommend this book.

Advance Praise for Life on the Rocks and another book by the author called Spine Less, plus more colorful corals | Back cover of hardback format of the book Life on the Rocks: Building a Future for Coral Reefs by Juli Berwald.
Back cover of hardback format of the book Life on the Rocks: Building a Future for Coral Reefs by Juli Berwald. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

31 thoughts on “Threats To Coral Reefs What Can Be Done”

    1. Yes you are right. Unlike many science writers she is also a very good author. She is fun, interesting, and captivating and she won’t kill you with details about how DNA sequencing work, just tell the benefits of it in an interesting way. Assisted evolution may help us preserve coral reefs as the challenges get tougher, but there are no guarantees. Another issue is that the efforts to save corals and coral reefs are not very high on government spending priorities.

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  2. Thanks for introducing this book. As a diver, I have seen many different reefs around the world. Some are vibrant, healthy and full of life while others feel more like a graveyard. I’d be interested in reading the science behind its damage as well as its future. Maggie

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    1. As a diver this book might be interesting to you. She has been diving around many coral reefs in the world and she describes her diving experiences vividly and in a captivating way. You will recognize yourself. It is amazing what people can do to the ocean and to the coral reefs. I knew about climate change, but fishing using explosives and cyanide, that doesn’t really make you proud to be human.

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  5. Java Bean: “Ayyy, the coral reef thing makes us sad. Such beautiful places and they look so ghostly when they bleach. We sure hope they can naturally select fast enough to keep up, since the humans don’t seem likely to fix their issues any time soon …”

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    1. Yes you are right Java Bean. We can’t wait for climate change to be solved and even stopping people from using cyanide and explosives to fish seems to be out of our abilities. Maybe assisted evolution (finding and selecting for genes that make the corals survive more easily) could be something.

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    1. Thank you so much Dawn. That is very interesting information. I often hear people say that the pH level in rivers is more acidic than in the ocean, as if that means the lowering of pH in the oceans does not matter. However, they forget that rivers and oceans are different eco systems. You don’t find many coral reefs in rivers.

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  9. An interesting post about coral reefs and Juli Berwald’s book. Thanks also for all the links. Coral reefs have been in trouble for a long time. I remember seeing damage many years ago while snorkelling. It has only increased since. I find incredible that the Earth has kept going so well after all the massive, horrific damage we have done although we’re now starting to see some reaction through climate change. I keep wondering if that reaction is going to tip over into something much faster and more profound.

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    1. You are right. The coral reefs are threatened in so many ways and have been for quite a while. Climate change, or global warming, is a threat that is become more urgent lately. This book is a great way to find out more about it and what we can do.

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  10. A great recommendation for Juli’s book, Thomas I have a dear friend who lives in the Whitsundays and I know there is much work going on to try and improve the coral and stop the bleaching…there is the added threat from the crown of thorns starfish as it feeds on coral which is a problem although they have a control centre that monitors these star fish as they are an invasive species…

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    1. Thank you Carol. I should say that the book discussed threats from various star fish too, but that was one of the threats that I did not mention it in the review. Whitsundays, that close to Great Barrier Reef, right? We’ve visited the Great Barrier Reef in 2005.

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        1. I remember being so amazed by the corals and their colors when I was scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Yes this book gives a good overview but as you say the threats are so many. She is also bringing up suncreen but it turns out, that one was not a big one. I hope you are having a fabulous weekend too Carol.

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  12. Thanks for this look at a fascinating book about the work being done on corals. I know this has been a big problem and it’s interesting to know that scientists are both looking at ways to preserve corals and to help them survive a changing climate.

    It’s good to hear that she weaves personal stories into her narrative. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that scientists are real people leading real lives while they’re trying to do the work that they do.

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    1. Thank you so much David. Yes I assume you have a personal life too, and Neil De Grasse Tyson, etc., and writing something about it when writing non-fiction books for a general audience can make the book feel less science heavy. It makes you feel like you are on a journey with the author.

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