Pioneering coral spawning research at the University of Derby video transcript

[Visual: Dr. Michael Sweet reaches into an aquatic tank to inspect material on the bottom of the tank.]

Dr. Michael Sweet, Professor in Molecular Ecology:

"So, we've been working on coral spawning for about a decade now, since about 2014. We were actually the first in the world to do ex-situ coral spawning - that's the spawning of corals away from the reef.

[Visual: Close-up of Dr. Michael Sweet's hand picking up a spawn of coral at the bottom of an aquatic tank. The scene transitions to two turtles swimming through a coral reef in the ocean and then back to coral spawning in a tank at the University of Derby.]

And bear in mind that corals are the foundation, the building blocks that harbour a home for upwards of 30% of all marine life. So they're super valuable from a biodiversity point of view, but also from an economic point of view. We really need to understand what makes them tick, how they reproduce, and how they survive in a changing climate.

[Visual: Dr. Michael Sweet reaches into a tank to pick up and inspect some coral.]

And we can do all that now in the comfort of our own universities and institutions around the world by using these sorts of techniques.

[Visual: Close-up of a hermit crab walking across a coral tank. The scene then shows an alternative view of coral spawning alongside tropical fish, followed by a further close-up of coral that Dr. Michael Sweet has picked out of a tank.]

So I started my PhD in 2007, and that's where I originally focused on coral reefs and I started looking at coral disease, initially describing various different diseases and the pathogens that were causing those diseases. I then grew a little bit tired of documenting the demise of these valuable ecosystems and started to focus on what makes them healthy.

[Visual: Close-up of a microscope examining a small beaker of water containing a piece of coral. The scene transitions to Dr. Michael Sweet working at a computer within a lab environment, examining the microscope footage.]

We switched our research objectives, still focusing on aspects of the microbiome, which are the small members of the community associated with corals - these are bacteria, viruses, fungi, protists - all valuable members. We started exploring shifts and changes, what makes them differ in their variation but also their function and importance.

[Visual: Tropical fish swimming above a coral reef spawning at the University of Derby. The scene transitions to footage of Dr. Michael Sweet with students in a tropical country and then back to the tanks in the lab.]

This soon segued into actually designing ways of improving coral reefs, either naturally in the field with restoration or ex-situ with systems like the coral spawning unit we have behind us. We developed these bespoke systems, which allowed us to replicate and manipulate the natural environment to allow for the controlled spawning of corals."

[Visual: Footage cuts to black with the University of Derby logo and derby.ac.uk displayed.]