Coral Reef Resilience VIP Team Featured in the News for Biosphere 2 Coral Research

The University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 is making headlines as living corals return to its Ocean Habitat for the first time in more than 30 years. At the center of this milestone is the Coral Reef Resilience VIP team, a student-faculty research group working to better understand how coral reefs can survive climate change.

Led by Diane Thompson, director of marine research at Biosphere 2, and doctoral student Samantha King, the team successfully transplanted 108 coral fragments into the Ocean Habitat. During a two-hour dive, researchers attached the corals to specially designed Coral Ark structures spherical frames that support coral growth just below the water’s surface.

This project is part of a temperature-resilience experiment designed to test how corals respond to predicted future ocean warming. Thanks to recent upgrades including improved lighting systems, circulation pumps and a heat exchanger Biosphere 2 now offers a highly controlled environment where scientists can simulate real-world ocean conditions at scale.

The Coral Reef Resilience VIP team brings together undergraduate students, graduate researchers and faculty across disciplines such as ecology, geosciences, oceanography and engineering. Their work goes beyond observing coral bleaching. 

For more information, go to U of A's Biosphere 2 embarks on coral resilience research and Corals in Biosphere 2's Ocean Habitat may help save reefs around the world

Read more about the Coral Reef Resilience VIP Team