# @seed on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CeRerPANlIM
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/34246663-seed-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/cdae2ac319.jpg
- **Posted:** 2022-06-01T18:46:59.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Seed (@seed) — https://gondola.cc/seed

## Caption

Picture a coral reef. (Sound on to listen to one.¹ 🎶 ) 

Home to a bustling ecosystem of colorful corals, sea sponges, crustaceans, mollusks, fish, sea turtles, dolphins—coral reefs are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on our planet, supporting nearly 25% of all marine life.² 🐠🐙🐬🐡

Zoom in, and you’ll find that reefs are also thriving with microscopic life—a collection of bacteria, algae, viruses, and single-celled protists that play a role in everything from providing energy⚡️to protecting against pathogenic invaders. 🤺

Now, picture you. You are a walking, talking coral reef, teeming with symbiotic, microscopic life invisible to the naked eye.🦠 Just like a coral reef, you are a complex multi-species ecosystem, functioning together as a whole. 

Whether we’re talking about a coral reef, or you, the health of the ecosystem relies on the delicate balance of these interconnected relationships. 

Unfortunately for coral reefs, this balance is being disrupted.

A host of threats (rising ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, overfishing, pollution) 🌊 have put coral reefs at risk of worldwide collapse within the next decade³—a domino effect that begins on the microscopic level, with symbiotic algae, and ripples outward🌀to each member of the reef community.

But the effects of damaged and disappearing reefs extend beyond the ocean. Coral reefs are important for human health too, providing value through food, employment, coastline protection, medical products, and more.⁵

In seeing our connection to coral reefs (both micro and macro), can we feel the same sense of accountability to care for these ecosystems, as we feel to care for our own? 🤔

#WorldReefAwarenessDay

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¹ The sounds of a healthy coral reef, recorded by researchers at the University of Exeter.⁴ Coral reef soundscapes like these offer a window into the health (or decay) of these ecosystems, providing insights into the animals inhabiting them. 

Citations 2-5 in the comments.

## Stats

- **Views:** 8,155
- **Likes:** 717
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- **Comments:** 14

## Tags

worldreefawarenessday

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