The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will receive a multi-million dollar grant to engineer a man-made coral reef ecosystem.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will fund up to $25 million over the five-year project.
"We have engineers, biologists and ecologists all at the University of Hawaiʻi that are working together to develop an entire ecosystem that has to be engineered, along with an engineering firm here in Hawaiʻi that will support the research," said Ben Jones, the director of ocean science at technology at the UH Applied Research Laboratory.
Most coral species grow weaker when the surrounding water is too warm. This process is known as coral bleaching.
For this project, larvae from heat-resilient coral species will be placed in reef-mimicking structures.
The absence of coral reefs will cause coastal erosion and wave damage. Hawaiʻi's sea-side infrastructure will quickly damage.
"This award will support development of a living coastal protection system. It'll support DoD critical infrastructure like roads, airports, bridges, and even recreation areas," Jones said.
