The Hidden Solar Power Plant Living on Coral Reefs

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When you think of the engines that power
a coral reef, you probably picture coral.

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But scientists have just discovered
another animal that has been quietly

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harvesting sunlight and helping
fuel tropical ecosystems all along.

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To find out what that
is, listen to this episode.

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'Cause this is the How to
Protect the Ocean podcast, your

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Today, we're answering one question.

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How can a simple sea sponge use sunlight,
and why does that discovery change

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the way we think about tropical reefs?

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That's what we're gonna
be talking about today.

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Coral reefs often get all the attention.

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Like, they're colorful, they're packed
with fish, they have a huge diode of

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biodiversity, fish, invertebrates, all
that kind of stuff, and they're some of

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the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth.

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But reefs are also home to another
group of animals that rarely

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make the headlines, sponges.

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At a first glance, they don't
look particularly exciting.

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They don't swim.

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They don't hunt.

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They don't even have a brain.

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But new research has revealed
that some tropical sponges are

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doing something remarkable.

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Thanks to a partnership with microscopic
algae living inside their tissues, these

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sponges can harness sunlight to generate
much of the energy they need to survive.

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And that discovery doesn't just tell
us something interesting about sponges.

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It tells us that we've been
underestimating one of the

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most important players.

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Because before, like,
sponges were sponges.

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I mean, you have sponges.

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They come from sponges in the Earth.

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They hold a lot of water.

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They have, like, sponges, like the
animal sponges in the reefs, or in

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the tropical waters, when they have
this, like, siphon in the middle,

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and they, like, put out water.

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They bring in water, they put out water.

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It's really kind of a cool thing.

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But you never really know exactly
what's happening with these sponges.

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So let's just start with the basics.

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Sponges are among the oldest
animals on the planet.

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They've existed for hundreds of
millions of years, long before

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dinosaurs walked the planet.

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Most people think of them
as simple filter feeders.

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They pump enormous amounts of
sea waters through their bodies

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capturing bacteria, tiny particles,
and organic matter for food.

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And that's true.

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But for some tropical sponge
species, filtering water

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is only part of their story.

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Researchers found that certain
sponges host microscopic

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algae inside their tissues.

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Those algae perform photosynthesis
using sunlight to convert carbon

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dioxide into energy-rich compounds,
just like algae that live inside

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reef-building corals zooxanthellae.

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But the difference is that scientists
now have a much better understanding

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of how important this relationship is.

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The algae share a large portion of energy
they produce with their sponge host,

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effectively acting as tiny solar panels
embedded throughout the animal's body.

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That means these sponges aren't relying
only on what they filter from the water.

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They're also being powered by the sun.

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And it's a partnership that's been
evolving for millions of years, and it

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helps explain why these sponges thrive
in nutrient-poor tropical waters where

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food could be surprisingly scarce.

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So why should we care about a sponge?

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Because reefs are built on relationships.

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When people hear the word photosynthesis,
they usually think about plants

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like trees and land plants.

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In the ocean, many animals depend
on partnerships with microscopic

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organisms that perform the same job.

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Corals are a classic example.

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Without their symbiotic algae, coral
reefs as we know them wouldn't exist.

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Now, scientists are showing that some
sponges have developed a similar strategy.

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That matters because sponges already
play several critical roles on reefs.

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They filter thousands of liters of water.

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They recycle nutrients.

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They provide habitats for
countless small animals.

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They help keep reef
ecosystems functioning.

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If some of those sponges are also
generating their own energy through

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sunlight, it changes our understanding of
how energy moves through reef ecosystems.

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It also raises fascinating questions.

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Could these sponge algae partnerships
make certain sponge species more

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resilient as ocean conditions change?

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Could they become even more important
if coral communities decline?

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Scientists don't have all the answers yet,

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but these are exactly the kinds of
questions that this research opens up.

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Another reason this matters is that
healthy reefs depend on diversity.

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We often focus conservation
on one iconic species: sea

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turtles, sharks, corals, whales.

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But ecosystems are resilient because many
different species perform different jobs.

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Sponges are not to be the
stars of reef documentaries.

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We know that.

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But they could be some of the hardest
working members of the community.

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This discovery is another
reminder that we still have so

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much to learn about the ocean.

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Scientists are now investigating
how widespread these sun-powered

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sponge partnerships really are.

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Do only a handful of species benefit, or
is it much more common than we realized?

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Researchers also want to understand
how these partnerships respond to

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marine heatwaves, ocean warming,
and declining water quality.

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That's especially important because
many reefs are already under

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pressure from climate change.

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If some sponge species prove more
tolerant of warming conditions than

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corals, they could become increasingly
important parts of future reef ecosystems.

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This doesn't mean sponges replace corals.

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Nothing replace a healthy coral reef.

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But understanding every piece
of the ecosystem helps us make

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better conservation decisions.

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One of the biggest lessons from
marine science over the past

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decade is that ecosystems are often
more connected than we imagine.

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The animals we overlook today may
turn out to be essential tomorrow,

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just like sponges were in the reefs.

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And that's exactly why
research like this matters.

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Every new discovery fills
another piece of the puzzle.

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The more we understand how
reefs actually work, the better

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equipped we'll be to protect them.

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Coral reefs aren't powered by coral alone.

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We've discovered that.

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They're powered by partnerships.

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This new research reminds us that even
one of the ocean's simplest animals,

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sponges, can reveal a surprisingly
sophisticated strategy for surviving,

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thriving, and supporting one of the
most important ecosystems on the planet.

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That's it for today's episode,
and that's it for this week.

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I would love to hear your thoughts
on these sponges, these new, like,

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partnerships that are happening
with algae, and to find out,

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like, what that means to you
for the future of coral reefs.

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Are we gonna see a change?

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We're already starting to see research
come out, it has been coming out for a

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while now, about different heat-tolerant
algae species and where they're found in

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specific corals, and how coral reefs will
change over the years as climate change

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continues to change oceanic temperatures,
and pH, and ranges, and so forth.

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And so these sponges may become,
like, a really important part of

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what's gonna happen in the future, and
finding out, like, how heat is going

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to mess with algae within these things.

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Are these algae providing energy like
they do for corals to build skeletons?

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Like, they provide, like,
the calcium that they need?

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Or do these sponges need
something different?

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It's gonna be really interesting
to see how this research

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continues and how it grows.

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But I'm really looking
forward to hearing from you.

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Hit me up on social media, Instagram,
TikTok, whatever that might be.

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I would love to hear from you.

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My name is Andrew Lewin, I'm the host
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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next
time, and happy conservation.