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first of all to die just to die for me
since the beginning it was the best I
say yeah I have to find a way to be more
often sooner it's like to go and to see
an action movie you see the fishes are a
big school of fishes moving and then to
see the chorus and drop the river and
your breathing and you can witness it my
name is Paul Rodriguez I'm a professor
and researcher at the University of
Guadalajara and a National Geographic
Explorer
my feel of a study are the coral reefs
all the roofs that we are studying
belongs to the central Mexican Pacific
what's corals plants animals or rocks
it's like it's a a two-for-one it's an
animal because it belongs to the animal
kingdom but this relation Siam biotic
with a micro algae they provide them
food for each other the micro algae
gives them the color so when you see at
four out that's brown it's because a
micro algae is brown and if you see a
pink it's because my qualities pink to
study any coral reefs it's interesting
because they are like a sensors for
everything as you will know the reefs
are declining that's because of the
climate change you may know about the
bleaching that's what happened on the
Great Barrier Reef in Australia the
bleaching happens when they lose that
micro algae and that bleaching may cause
the dead of the corals
if they are bleaching that's a try is
because it's something happening on the
sea and it's something happening with
the climate it's not the normal
temperature that I use to think that's a
stress condition
if the conditions they don't go better
they will lose all the micro allergies
they will die eventually the ocean
acidification is the change of the water
chemistry are we doing today good where
the water becomes more acid and that
caused a change of the pH and that
causes a stress the corals they will
make thinner skeletons more fragile
skeletons so the Europeana under storms
when they are more intense can take the
entire ecosystem okay this is rare but
it does that one with climate change the
problem is that the stress events are
becoming more intense and more frequent
we are trying to figure out if the
corals will make it or not
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these trips New Mexico are very
interesting because they are more a
silent and resistant than some other
areas we have witness so we can see here
the blue team but also we have seen them
recovery some of them died but most of
them survived and for the next stress
event they resist more and if they
bleach they die less so we are trying to
understand why they have this resistance
most girls live in crystal waters with
temperatures always stable and here the
central region of the Pacific in Mexico
the temperatures can go up and down four
degrees in one day Celsius so that's not
supposed to be the optimal for corals
and here they leave that every day so
they are already stressed they live all
the time by stress so when another
stressful condition comes they say well
yeah it's bad we are going to bleach but
they can cope
we do coral restoration the restoration
technique actually it's so basic at the
sides went where the coral are more
resistant and more resilient and we're
taking those fragments natural fragments
to sites nearby the corals the branching
corals they reproduce by fragmentation
we look for the healthy fragments and
then we look for a surface to put it
with cable ties we said that there are
fragments of opportunity if they find
somewhere to attach they will grow there
what we're giving them is like an extra
shot we monitor the healthy ribs and we
are also monitoring the ribs that we are
restoring it's very important for that
reason to go and to visit the ribs
that's an important income if you are
not careful that can damage the porous
and the rest of organisms eventually too
many people makes a huge damage the
information that we are generating
around all these trips there are help
paying for them local managers to make
actions so the local people and the
government and us as a scientific
approach we work together to find a
solution
how can I still get people there to
enjoy the place but without loosen it so
we apply what it's called carrying
capacity that it's how many people can
get there without damaging the site
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first some people were angry like why
are you closing the area we want to go
there but if you want to really enjoy
the natural resources of them you have
to wait a little bit to the system to
rest it wasn't too late we are going to
do something to make this better and to
make it last for you your son's your
grandsons so we are trying to go one
step of time so I think that's that's
the best advice
don't look at the disaster look at what
mitigate the disaster these animals
these ecosystems
don't don't think about a hurricane
think about the beautiful for a race
I try not to lose the ability to get
amazed
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