Darwin's first book was called the zoology of the beagle. But corall, like most of darwin's writings, is a surprisingly easy and good read. You gat you get a feel for the excitement of seeing the stuff and understanding it for the first time. How do these tiny creatures make such enormous structures? We're told that the great australian barrier reef can't be seen from space or so on.
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.