It's me, Sam!
And I'm here in the Florida
Keys National Marine Sanctuary
to check out a species with
boulder-like formations,
antler-like branches,
and all kinds of colors!
They sound like plants, right?
Well, actually,
they're animals.
Corals are
an endangered species
in desperate need of our help.
So let's dive down
to learn more about them
and an amazing underwater
research lab
that works to protect
and preserve our oceans
and its marine wildlife.
(upbeat music)
♪ ♪
SAM: The ocean is full
of life in an amazing array
of shapes and colors.
And at the bottom of the ocean
floor is one of
the greatest natural wonders
of our world: corals!
Coral are one of the tiniest
living organisms in the ocean.
They can live alone, but many
do something really amazing.
They attach themselves
to rocks at
the bottom of the ocean,
divide into thousands
of clones,
and form beautiful colonies
called "coral reefs."
The Great Barrier Reef off
the cost of Australia
is the largest coral reef
in the world.
But today, we're headed
to Conch Reef to dive with
Aileen Soto
and her team from FIU.
We're diving down
to check out Aquarius,
the only undersea lab in
the world,
to learn about the research
they are doing
to protect and preserve
coral reefs.
Here we go!
Aquarius is massive!
Its chamber weighs about
80 tons and is 43 feet long.
This vessel is like
its own ecosystem.
The view ports and the base
plates on the seabed
are all covered
with coral formations.
This underwater lab is a
habitat for marine wildlife
and scientists.
I've never seen
anything like it!
Let's go up to learn more
about the research that
happens in Aquarius.
Aileen, that was
such a cool dive!
Can you tell me again
what you do?
So basically my job
is to connect
the missions that
we're doing at Aquarius
to kids all over the world.
So we actually have wi-fi
underwater.
-Wow.
-And we can live-link
with a group anywhere
in the world
anywhere, any time,
and basically bring
the coral reef of
the Florida Keys to the kids.
Wow, that's incredible.
Is there research going
on right now?
Absolutely.
So right now, Aquarius is owned
and operated by
Florida International
University.
NASA utilizes it through
NASA's Extreme Environment
Missions Operations Program,
or the NEMO program, so
they're also utilizing it
pretty much every year
to train for long duration
space flights
and for life in the
international space station.
SAM: Astronauts learn
a technique
called "saturation diving,"
where they're trained to
breathe underwater
to reduce the risk of
decompression sickness
in extreme environments
like outer space!
Are there any cool missions
coming up?
So we actually do have
missions coming up.
AILEEN: And all of them are
looking at basically the role
that predators play in
coral reef ecosystems,
and looking at
the ecology of fear,
and how predator presence
affects the behavior
and distribution
of the prey species.
SAM: Okay.
AILEEN: So that we can better
understand
the population dynamics within
the coral reef ecosystem.
How neat!
Thank you so much
for showing me this.
-It's my pleasure.
SAM: It was great,
hearing about
all the missions,
educational programs,
and unique ocean science
that Aquarius offers.
Corals are
such fascinating creatures.
I can't wait to see more.
Now that we've seen them
in the day, it's time to
check them out at night.
I've been a scuba diver for
seven years, and this is
my first coral night dive.
I'm so excited!
Let's meet Dr. Miller
from NOAA,
who specializes
in corals,
so she can tell us
what we might see down there.
She and her team of
researchers have been diving
in this area
for the past three nights,
observing how corals
reproduce,
also known as spawning.
-Got it.
-Oh, we got her.
Hi.
-(laughs)
Are you Sam?
-Yeah.
-I'm Margaret.
-Nice to meet you.
So, Dr. Miller,
it's so nice to meet you!
What is your job?
-I work for NOAA
as a coral researcher.
-Very cool.
MARGARET: Corals
function to provide
that structure in the ocean.
It provides habitat for all
the different organisms that
you see on the coral reef.
I heard that
you've been out here
for a couple of nights already.
It's always a little bit
of an adventure,
because you don't know
exactly when the corals
are gonna spawn.
MARGARET: So we always are
out here diving actually
six nights during August,
just to make sure
that we don't miss it.
So, Dr. Miller,
what kind of corals
are elkhorn and staghorn?
MARGARET: So the elkhorn coral
that we're gonna see tonight
and staghorn coral are two of
the species that are listed
under the Endangered
Species Act.
SAM: What kind of threats
are they facing right now?
MARGARET: Particularly for
elkhorn and staghorn coral,
but all of the corals
on our reef here,
they're very sensitive
to warm temperatures.
Corals actually have
a very narrow tolerance.
MARGARET: So when the
temperature of the ocean gets
only a couple degrees higher
than it should be,
the corals actually get very
sick and die very quickly.
And that's through a process
called coral bleaching.
So corals kind of look
like plants, right?
-They do.
-But they're actually animals?
They are.
Corals are pretty special.
That's one of the things
I think is really cool
about corals,
because they are animals,
but they act like plants.
So corals actually, just like
plants, get most of their
energy from the sunlight.
Because they have these tiny
plant cells living inside them,
that photosynthesize
as plants do,
and the coral's able to
benefit from that.
So when we're going out
on a dive,
watching for coral spawning,
what we're gonna be doing is
kind of swimming around
and just examining all
the elkhorn corals in the area.
Well, I can't wait
to get down there
and see if we find anything.
-Let's keep our fingers
crossed.
-Yes.
SAM: I've been waiting for
this dive all day.
So excited!
Let's go!
It's really dark down here.
Good thing I have
this flashlight!
Let me stay close to
Dr. Miller and the NOAA team.
There's some elkhorn coral!
And lots of it.
That's a marker used
to note its locations.
You would think
they were just rocks.
I can't believe
they are animals.
There's not too much
activity tonight.
Wait!
There's a crab!
Hi, little guy.
There he goes, back to bed.
It's been an amazing
and long day of diving.
It's time to head back up
and call it a day.
(heavy breathing)
I'm okay.
-That was really cool.
-Thank you.
That was really cool.
SAM: After a few hours
of sleep,
we're meeting up with
Dr. Miller and her team
to see what they found.
Hi, Dr. Miller!
Thanks for having me back.
Hey, Sam, welcome to
our makeshift field lab
and coral baby nursery.
It looks like you have
millions of babies here.
There are probably millions
and millions.
I would not want
to have to count them,
for sure, at this stage.
But we can estimate from
the volume that they're in
approximately how many we have.
Cool, so what are you guys
gonna do with them after
they're developed?
So some of the things that
we'll be doing are basic
experiments to just understand
and describe how coral babies
behave and what they need
to be successful.
Our other goal is really to use
what we learned to be able
to help more of these coral
babies survive and use them for
restoration of the reef,
to actually get more corals
growing back on the reef.
I had such a blast diving
with Dr. Miller
and getting to see her lab.
SAM: She and her team are
doing such great work for
the future of coral reefs.
Healthy coral reefs
equal healthy oceans
and a healthy planet.
Also seeing Aquarius with
Aileen and the FIU team
and learning about all
the amazing research being
done by diving in the ocean.
Corals are super smart.
Not only are they animals,
but they have plant-like cells
that photosynthesize from
the sun to help them grow.
And they spawn after
the full moon in August.
Corals are a lot more complex
than we thought.
So let's be sure to take care
of our oceans.
See you next time
What Sam Sees.
