Seawater ‘blood test’ may reveal coral reef damage before it shows

Before major surgeries and operations, doctors often detect diseases in humans using minimally invasive methods like a blood or urine test, before symptoms become severe. Now, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are applying a similar concept to coral reefs. They have shown that the water surrounding reefs contains chemical and microbial signals that could reveal changes in ecosystem health long before these changes become visible.In a new study, WHOI scientists combined the principles of chemistry, biology and ocean physics to examine how dissolved molecules, microorganisms and water movement interact across coral reefs and a nearby seagrass meadow in the American Virgin Islands.