Beach umbrellas helped these corals get their color back

Scientists in the Florida Keys tried shading corals with umbrellas last summer, and the corals got some of their color back. The study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, tested parasol-like shades made of PVC pipe and nylon fabric, floated about a foot above vulnerable brain corals at Newfound Harbor. Each cut light by 60 percent. Lead author Dr. Karen Neely of Nova Southeastern University set up twenty shades over ten coral colonies, with twenty unshaded corals as controls, then sent divers out every two weeks to track color and take tissue samples. The idea came from the 2023 bleaching event, which Neely said "essentially wiped out branching corals" in Florida. Shading cannot cool the water. It blocks the UV damage that compounds the heat. Even in the second-highest thermal stress on record there, the shaded corals lost less color than expected. "Shaded corals even recovered some of their color, after the shades were installed," Neely said.