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General Lectures
Hope for Reefs: Addressing the Coral Reef Crisis
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Hope for Reefs: Addressing the Coral Reef Crisis
Featuring Dr. Rebecca Albright
Tuesday, May 21, 7–8 pm
African Hall
While they cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, coral reefs support approximately one-quarter of marine biodiversity on Earth and the livelihoods of tens of millions of people. The ecosystem services that coral reefs provide (e.g., fisheries, coastal protection, habitat, cultural services, tourism) are valued at nearly $400 billion per year.
Already under severe pressure from a number of stressors, including overfishing and pollution, coral reefs are also among the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate change and ocean acidification: We have lost an estimated 50% of the world's coral reefs over the last several decades and are projected to lose more than 90% by 2050.
While today's reefs are facing unprecedented struggle, challenge often breeds innovation—and novel and exciting ideas are emerging to address the coral reef crisis. In this talk, Dr. Albright will share some of the challenges that reefs are currently facing, the strengths and limitations of current solutions, and next steps toward saving these invaluable ecosystems.
Learn more about the Academy's Hope for Reefs initiative.
About Rebecca Albright
Dr. Rebecca Albright is Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Zoology and Patterson Scholar at the California Academy of Sciences. She is a coral reef biologist with expertise in coral reef biology, ecology, and biogeochemistry. Her research focuses on the ability of coral reefs to cope with changing environmental conditions such as ocean acidification and warming.
Since joining the Academy in 2016, Rebecca has increasingly focused her efforts on solutions to the coral reef crisis including the Academy's commitment to scaling coral reef restoration. She has worked in government, academic, and non-profit settings and has studied coral reefs around the world, ranging from the Florida Keys to the Great Barrier Reef. In addition to her commitment to research, Rebecca’s passion for community engagement has been fostered by years working with non-profits and citizen science organizations that focus on educating communities about coral reef conservation and management.
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About IBSS
The mission of the Academy's Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability (IBSS) is to gather new knowledge about life's diversity and the process of evolution—and to rapidly apply that understanding to our efforts to sustain life on Earth.
This lecture is part of the Academy's Claire Matzger Lilienthal Distinguished Lecture Series.