LIFE ON THE ROCKS

A study of coral reefs and the environmental changes they face.

Science journalist Berwald, the author of a book about jellyfish, Spineless, brings a doctorate in ocean science and keen curiosity to an energetic investigation of the plight of coral reefs, threatened by warming waters, overfishing, and pollution. “The fairyland” of coral reefs, she writes, “was the accumulated work over the eons of hundreds of thousands of tiny animals—most no bigger than the tip of a pencil—and the symbiotic algae that lived tattooed in their tissue.” Now coral reefs struggle to survive, a challenge the author observed firsthand in her research with scientists in Florida, Sulawesi, Bali, and the Dominican Republic; visits to a coral genetics laboratory at the University of Texas; attendance at meetings, such as the 2018 Reef Futures conference; and discussions with aquarists, climate scientists, geneticists, biologists, and environmentalists, among many others focused on promoting the health of an estimated 2,400 coral species. While she clearly explains the causes of the coral reefs’ vulnerability, she also finds evidence of hope. By the process of reticulated evolution, for example, coral species can interbreed, producing hybrids able to survive in warmer waters. Public and private efforts are ongoing. For example, by 2021, a huge restoration project in Sulawesi, funded by the Mars corporation (manufacturer of candy bars, among other products), had planted over 280,000 corals in nearly 10 acres, “making it one of the largest restoration projects in the world, if not the largest.” The Coral Restoration Foundation, founded in 2007, promotes growing coral in labs and returning them to reefs. Besides presenting ecological concerns, Berwald underscores the devastating impact of coral demise on communities of color that depend on the health of the oceans for their economic survival. Along with sharply drawn profiles and lucid renderings of ocean life, the author interweaves her narrative with a memoir of family trauma: her teenage daughter’s overwhelming anxiety and OCD, whose causes seem as complex as the forces that assault coral reefs.

An animated narrative that conveys a timely message.