Wild Tobago

Ocean temperatures are reaching dangerous levels for coral reefs in the Caribbean, and international agencies have issued warnings. Dr Anjani Ganase, coral reef specialist, explains what these warnings mean for Tobago. What is coral bleaching? Corals form the foundation of our reef ecosystems by providing homes for an array of marine life. Corals are capable of building massive underwater structures because they form a special relationship with the microalgae that live inside the tissues of the coral. This is why corals are found in shallow well-lit tropical waters; the algae can photosynthesise using the sunlight and produce enough energy to supply both themselves and their coral host. In return, the coral provides the algae with a safe haven, storing the essential nutrients and removing the algae’s waste. The presence of the algae in the coral’s tissue makes coral reefs colourful and not transparent like their jellyfish cousins.  The breakdown of this relationsh...

Dr Anjani Ganase, marine biologist and environmentalist, takes us into space for a perspective on Earth, our planet, and our home This piece is dedicated to Dr Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2018). As a pioneering theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Dr Hawking's work and life exemplified the term - reaching for the stars. Since the dawn of humankind, we are always looking to the stars for answers. Within this century, we succeeded in sending men and instruments into space to observe and record the cosmos. The satellites that orbit earth either point to the stars collecting information, or point to the earth relaying messages around the planet. It was in 1972, when the crew of the Apollo 17 took a moment to photograph the earth on their way to the moon, sending back the famous photo - not the first of its kind - that referred to the earth as “the blue marble.” Here was the definitive image that showed us our planet dominated by water. This photo of the blue marble displayed the...