Seawater samples may offer early clues to changing reef health

Article excerpt

Doctors can often detect diseases in humans using minimally invasive methods, like blood or urine tests, before symptoms become severe. Now, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are applying a similar concept to coral reefs, showing that the water surrounding reefs contains chemical and microbial signals that could reveal changes in ecosystem health long before those changes are visible.