The strange disease spreading through Florida's corals
Lesson created by Alexandra Panzer using TED-Ed's lesson creatorVideo from OceanX YouTube channel
Let’s Begin…
In the past 70 years, coral cover in the iconic Florida Keys has dropped from 50% to 5% and is predicted to fall even lower thanks to a brand-new villain known as stony coral tissue loss disease. OceanX took scientists from Mote Marine Lab and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on a survey of the Florida Reef Tract to identify the bacteria causing the corals to get sick and try to find a cure.
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Meet The Creators
- Video created by OceanX
- Lesson Plan created by Luka Seamus Wright
by Julie Pao
Julie Pao
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What I Learned From This Video
Coral reefs are dying in the reefs and are predicted to drop to around 2% because of a stony coral tissue loss disease. The disease started in 2014 and was spread from Miami through the Florida Keys. The disease affects lots of building block organisms that are the foundation of reefs, some types having mortality rates of 100%. The tiny polyps are what create the layers of tissue that make up the corals, and Ocean X mission is a tool that scientists to study the columns and identify a signature of the sick corals. The disease suggest that it is water borne, caused by a bleaching event and wastewater treatment. Scientists are sequencing seawater from different areas to figure out what bacterias are causing the disease to protect ecosystems.
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