Global Indigo

Coral reefs are one of the wonders of nature, because of their enchanting beauty and unusual biology. In addition, many consider them to be second only to tropical rain forests as incubators and protectors of biodiversity.

The reefs, which grow in shallow, warm waters, consist largely of the skeletons of small, sedentary animals called polyps, which are relatives of jellyfish and sea anemones. The remains of dead polyps - in the form of calcium carbonate - constitute the main body of the reef. Living polyps form a kind of skin over the surface of the coral reef.

Warming oceans, pollution from human activities, damage from careless tourists and fishermen — even increased ultraviolet radiation from the sun due to the depletion of ozone in the upper atmosphere — have been blamed for extensive illness and death in the coral population. Corals are uniquely vulnerable because they are near coastlines and near the surface of the ocean.

Mankind is just beginning to perceive the value of coral reefs, with their known supplies of food and as-yet-unexplored biota that could lead to the development of new medicines. The U.S. State Department estimates “half the potential pharmaceuticals being explored are from the oceans, many from coral reef ecosystems.”

In Reef Research, Dr. Patrick Colin, a marine “bioprospector,” clearly described the hopes that had led him to spend the 1990s collecting marine samples in the Pacific for the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI). “Over the past 20 some years the NCI has been screening terrestrial plants and marine organisms worldwide for bioactivity against cancer and AIDS, and has come up with a number of hot prospects, a number of which are in clinical trials?. We try to collect from all environments possible, from shoreline areas with mangroves, beaches or rocks to deep offshore reef environments?. We do not collect any hard (stony) corals, threatened, endangered or locally protected species. We are mostly interested in soft-bodied sessile invertebrates which rely on their chemistry, rather than stinging cells, spines, jaws or teeth for their survival.”

Clearly, conservation of coral, and oceans in general, is linked to human survival and will continue to be an urgent issue in the 21st century.