After decades of decline due to marine disease, climate change and a number of other environmental stressors, the critically endangered elkhorn coral has found the ideal location to rebuild its population in Florida's Dry Tortugas National Park. Researchers investigated five different areas around the Caribbean and discovered that the coral in Dry Tortuga ate more zooplankton, a vital source of nutrients used to build and repair coral tissue, and had access to healthy microbes, making the park a veritable oasis for the struggling species.

It is critical that government agencies and scientists work together to preserve coral populations since coral minimizes coastal erosion and helps stabilize the economy through the fishing and tourism industries. The elkhorn coral's re-establishment in the Florida Keys is a good first step, but Andréa Grottoli, senior author of the study and a professor of earth sciences at The Ohio State University, says there is so much more to do. Climate change, overfishing and pollution are the root cause of coral decline and, until those issues are fully resolved, coral restoration and conservation efforts are all just temporary band-aids on a much larger wound.

Read the full article on Ohio State News, In Florida, endangered coral finds a way to blossom.

Photo credit: United States Geological Survey