Reef ball
Reef ball is the name for a hollow, multi-hole hemisphere made of concrete . Reef balls are used to grow artificial coral reefs .
history
In 1993, the reef ball was invented by Todd Barber . He founded the Reef Ball Foundation to preserve and protect the coral reefs for future generations. Barber patented the idea of building artificial reef modules with an inflatable swim bladder . This made it possible even then to pull the modules through the water from a small boat. On site you only had to let the air out of the balloon and the reef ball sank to the sea floor.
There have been other attempts to create artificial reefs before. Ships, steel structures, car tires, wrecked cars and even disused tanks have already been sunk for this purpose. The artificial reefs made from car tires developed into an ecological catastrophe in the USA. They broke loose from their anchorage, destroyed healthy reefs and spread over hundreds of kilometers.
Use
The reef ball is used to revitalize dead reefs or to add an artificial coral reef to a sandy, lifeless sea floor.
Green algae settle on the concrete hemispheres just a week after they are submerged. Shortly afterwards you can spot the first animals such as snails, worms and amphibians on them. These animals partly feed on the algae. Two more weeks later, barnacle larvae and mussel larvae settle . Also starfish colonize the reef balls in large numbers. Crabs and crabs take refuge in the artificial caves . Fish use the cover, corals settle on the surface. Settlement is even faster if you attach broken corals to the reef balls at the beginning. They grow firmly on it and expand.
The reef ball can be used to improve the microclimate for marine life in almost all seas . There are even robbers nearby. You can easily find prey at the reef balls. Other animals find protection from currents or enemies here. If you put many reef balls together, you can build a wall with them. Such walls are used as breakwaters on threatened coasts to stop their erosion . Currently, reef balls can be found on almost every stretch of coast in the United States and on every continent, including Antarctica . Reef balls are also used in the tropics to replant mangroves .
numbers
In total, more than 500,000 reef balls have been used worldwide.
The size of the reef balls ranges from 0.3 m in diameter with a weight of 15 kg to 2.5 m with 3500 kg.
- In Malaysia over 5,000 reef balls have been set up so far.
- In Campeche , Mexico , over 4,000 reef balls were set up to increase fish stocks.
- In Tampa Bay, the reef balls were used as breakwaters.
See also
- Artificial coral reef
- Artificial reef
- Biorock
- Dolos (hydraulic engineering)
- Tetrapod (stone)
- Quadripod
literature
- TF Goreau, NI Goreau, TJ Goreau: corals and coral reefs . In: Biology of the Seas . 1991, Spektrum Akad. Verl., ISBN 3-89330-753-2 .
- Yossi Loya and Ramy Klein: The world of corals . Year Verlag Hamburg, 1998, ISBN 3-86132-226-9 .