Climate change means that everything we thought we knew about coralriefs and their effective conservation and governance really needs to be completely rethought in light of this. Whether or not plastic has large scale, direct impacts on marine life, i think, is still out for debate, debate. And the other thing about them is hir's an awful lot to be learned from the animals that make them, the polyps.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the simple animals which informed Charles Darwin's first book, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, published in 1842. From corals, Darwin concluded that the Earth changed very slowly and was not fashioned by God. Now coral reefs, which some liken to undersea rainforests, are threatened by human activity, including fishing, pollution and climate change.
With
Steve Jones
Senior Research Fellow in Genetics at University College London
Nicola Foster
Lecturer in Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth
And
Gareth Williams
Associate Professor in Marine Biology at Bangor University School of Ocean Sciences
Producer Simon Tilllotson.