Bookpleasures.com isexcited to be joined today by Dr. Lisa S. Gardiner, a science writer,educator, scientist, and speaker who helps curious readers understandour planet’s workings and the impacts of our actions on climate,oceans, and ecosystems.

With a PhD in geosciencefocused on paleoecology) from the University of Georgia, an MFA innonfiction writing from Goucher College, and a BA in geology andmarine science from Smith College, Lisa blends scientific expertisewith creative storytelling.

She’s the author of theaward-winning Tales from an Uncertain World: What Other AssortedDisasters Can Teach Us About Climate Change, and her new book,Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival, isnow available.

She also teachesworkshops, develops educational tools like curricula and museumexhibits, and has created science comics and illustrations.Previously, she led projects at the UCAR Center for ScienceEducation, funded by NSF, NOAA, and NASA.

Norm: Lisa, thank youfor joining us. Let’s dive in with our first question… Whatinitially inspired you to write Reefs of Time, and how didyour background as a geoscientist influence your decision to explorethe fossilized past of coral reefs?

 If your inspiration came from aspecific event or discovery, could you describe that moment and howit shifted your perspective on coral reefs? 

How has your geosciencetraining helped you bridge the gap between ancient fossils and modernconservation efforts?

Lisa: Thank you for theinvitation to share a bit about Reefs of Time! The inspiration forthe book first came from a particular place: a fossil reef along arocky coast on the Bahamian island of San Salvador where I diddoctoral research many years ago. 

The fossil reef is on land nowbecause it formed when sea level was a bit higher (about 125,000years ago) so it’s possible to stand on fossil corals on the coastand see living corals offshore. 

Living corals are struggling today,but the fossil corals lived before Anthropocene problems likepollution, overfishing, and human-caused climate change. 

The situation for coralreefs today is dire. This is a catastrophe, and it can be hard tohave perspective in the middle of a catastrophe. What we know aboutthe history and prehistory of reefs can help us understand theresilience of this ecosystem, when and where reefs have thrived orfloundered and what they need to survive long term. Looking atevidence from the past to inform conservation is becoming more commonin science, so this gap between fossils, history, and modernconservation is now being bridged and the findings are fascinating. 

Norm: You describe thebook as venturing into the ‘shallow end of deep time.’ Can youexplain what this phrase means to you and how it shaped your approachto storytelling? 

How did this concept help you make complexgeological timelines more relatable for non-expert readers? 

Werethere any challenges in translating ‘deep time’ into a narrativethat feels immediate and urgent for today’s climate issues?

Lisa: Reefs of Time looksat coral reefs from the past few hundred thousand years, which is avery small fraction of deep time (also known as geologic time) —the nearly 4.6-billion-year history of our planet. That’s why Irefer to the timeframe as the shallow end of deep time. These youngfossil reefs are a lot like modern reefs (except for the lack ofAnthropocene stresses). I wanted to connect the paleontology with thepresent day because understanding past coral reefs can let usenvision how we can help reefs survive into the future. 

Norm: The bookweaves together cutting-edge research and personal fieldwork. Couldyou share a memorable experience from one of your expeditions totropical locales, and how it informed your understanding of ancientreefs? 

What unexpected challenges did you encounter during thatexpedition, and how did they influence the book’s themes ofresilience? 

How did collaborating with local researchers orcommunities in those locales add depth to your storytelling?

Lisa: A coral reef off the coastof Belize had a deep influence on the book’s ideas about reefresilience. Full of thriving staghorn coral, a species that died inhuge numbers across the Caribbean in the 20th century, this reef wasanomalously healthy when I visited it in late 2022 with the team ofgeologists who study it. They researched the history of coral growthbelow the living reef and found that the staghorn coral grew more orless continuously for at least a century. This means that thestaghorn coral in this reef persisted while the coral was dying enmasse throughout the region.

Because the coral hadshown resilience, a local project started growing it to help restoreother reefs. But unfortunately, an unprecedented marine heatwavebegan months after my visit and all the staghorn coral in this reefdied. It was terribly sad, and emphasized that resilience has limits.This coral had a history of resilience but was not equipped tosurvive the climate crisis. 

Norm: What surprisedyou the most about the fossil records of coral reefs—perhaps aspecific discovery or ‘cryptic signature’ in the coral limestonethat revealed something unexpected about their endurance? 

How didthat surprise change your preconceived notions about coraladaptability, and has it influenced any ongoing research? Can youexplain how that discovery might translate into practical strategiesfor protecting modern reefs?

Lisa: One curious thing isevidence in the limestone of fossil reefs that there have been timesin the past, long before the modern catastrophes, when reefs stoppedbuilding, when corals died, when reefs failed. 

And yet reef buildingstarted again, sometimes after a hundred years and sometimes afterseveral thousand years.

There are differencesbetween these prehistoric reef interruptions and what is happeningnow. 

The environment is changing at a faster rate today. It ispossible that there will be too few safe spots left in the ocean asclimate warms, that species will go extinct, and reefs will not beable to return. 

But it’s also possible that corals will eventuallystart to grow on the remains of their dead ancestors, especially ifwe limit the amount of warming and help species avoid extinction.

Norm: You emphasizestories of resilience and transformation from ancient reefs thatsurvived dramatic environmental upheavals. 

What key lessons fromthese epochs do you think are most applicable to today’s coralecosystems facing climate change?

 How do these historical examples ofresilience give you hope amid the current predictions of reefdecline?

Lisa: Nothing is quite like themess that climate change is causing in coral reefs today, but therehave also been times in the past when the ocean was less hospitableto corals. 

For example, about 20,000 years ago, most tropical oceanshad about 90 percent less area where reefs could form (because of theshape of the seafloor, there was less shallow water for reefs whensea level was low). 

Despite much less habitat, all but two coralspecies appear to have made it through that time. Theoretically,species survived in pockets of the ocean where they could still findlivable conditions — places called refugia. 

Thousands of yearslater, once there were more shallow areas in tropical oceans, reefsproliferated. 

If we can protect enoughpockets of the ocean now, reefs could recover eventually as they didin the past. The question is whether there will be enough refugiawith livable conditions this century as climate warms. 

We don’tknow if there will be enough refugia. But if we help at least somereefs survive this century, we will improve the odds that reefsworldwide can recover eventually. 

Norm: How did youdecide which specific locations and time periods to focus on, andwhat challenges did you face in accessing or interpreting thesesites? 

Was there a particular site that didn’t make it into thebook, and why did you choose to exclude it? 

Lisa:I knew that I wanted somefocus on Caribbean reefs because there are many well-researchedfossil reefs in the region and because reefs began to collapse in theCaribbean before other parts of the world, which can help usunderstand what went wrong.

 But I also wanted to look at theecosystem worldwide, so I started by thinking broadly and readingreef research papers from throughout the tropics, and then laterfocused on a handful of places. 

There are far more coralreefs in the world, living and fossilized, than would fit into thisbook. But some stories wound up being a bit tangential to the mainideas, even if they were fascinating. I’m turning some of the extrastories into articles and perhaps parts of a future book. 

Norm: Your writingstyle is described as both scientific and lyrical. How did youbalance rigorous geoscience with poetic observation to make the bookaccessible and moving for a wide audience? 

Lisa: I have anappreciation for stories that weave the lyrical and scientifictogether, particularly when these stories help people learn aboutnature. 

That’s what I aimed to do in Reefs of Time. I wanted thebook to be accessible whether or not a reader had ever visited acoral reef. 

Through stories of expeditions to living and fossilizedreefs — which are the more lyrical parts of the book — I hopereaders can envision what reefs are like and why they are worthsaving while also learning about the science of this ecosystem. 

Norm; You reframe thestory of coral reefs as one of possibility rather than inevitableloss. Based on your research, what concrete actions do you believescientists, policymakers, and everyday readers can take to supportreef survival? 

If you had to prioritize one lesson for policymakers,what would it be, and why? If you could design a simple policy changebased on your findings, what would it look like? 

How can individualreaders incorporate these actions into their daily lives, beyond justawareness?

Lisa: For at least somereefs to survive this century, we need to limit the amount of climatechange. If we can keep the amount of warming this century to 1.5C,about a third of the world’s coral reefs will survive according tothe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

There are otherthreats to reef health, but climate is the most dire and a problemthat we can all help solve, even if we live nowhere near a coralreef.

Every fraction of a degreethat our climate warms will make a huge difference for coral reefs.We all can tackle this problem and there has been meaningful actionso far, but it is not happening fast enough and, sadly, there arestill a few leaders (particularly the current US president) who donot acknowledge the gravity of the situation or that we can fix it. 

Of course, the health of coral reefs is just one of many, manyreasons to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change. 

Another essential thing wecan do is to not give up hope. We are going to see more headlinesabout extreme heat killing corals over the next few decades, and wewill need to keep saving what we can. The steps we take now will makeit easier for reefs to return eventually, even if that is well beyondour lifespans. 

Norm: The bookhighlights how ancient reefs adapted to shifting seas andtemperatures. In what ways do you see parallels—ordifferences—between those past adaptations and the unprecedentedhuman-driven changes reefs face in the Anthropocene?

What makeshuman-induced changes uniquely challenging compared to naturalupheavals in the fossil record? 

Are there any modern coral speciesthat seem to echo the adaptive traits of their ancient counterparts?

Lisa: Anthropocene threatsto coral reefs — including (but not limited to) rapid warming andnutrient-laden runoff from agriculture and cities— are unlike past,natural changes because of their vast scales and rapid rates ofchange. 

The good news is that corals do appear to be able to adaptand acclimate to at least some amount of warming. The question iswhether they will have enough time to do so given how rapidly theocean is warming. 

In the past, corals have adapted over hundreds tothousands of years. They don’t have that much time now, so somescientists are finding ways to help speed up the process, such asthrough assisted evolution. 

Norm; With the book’srelease coinciding with ongoing global discussions on climate crisisand mass extinction, how do you hope Reefs of Time willinfluence educators, policymakers, and the general public in theirapproach to environmental challenges? 

What specific feedback fromearly readers has already shown this influence in action? 

If the booksparks a broader conversation, what key question do you hope itraises in policy circles?

Lisa: Since the book cameout in the US, I have been hearing from people who are working tohelp coral reefs — like university students studying the ocean,people working for environmental NGOs, and divers volunteering withcitizen science projects.

 I also hear from people who are thinkingabout how we as societies and nations can help. It is heartening toknow there are so many people who care about coral reefs and aremotivated to solve problems. I’d like to see more of this, agroundswell of action. The reefs need everyone’s help. 

Norm: Where can ourreaders find out more about you and Reefs of Time: What FossilsReveal about Coral Survival?

Lisa: To learn more aboutme and my work, readers can visit my website.

For more information aboutthe book, visit the Princeton University Press website.

In Nautilus Magazine, Ishare more about the book in What Deep Time Can Tell Us About CoralReefs.

Norm: As we wind up ourinterview, looking ahead, what do you envision for the future ofcoral reefs based on your research? 

How optimistic are you aboutreefs surviving the next century, and what factors could tip thescales? 

Lisa:Coral reefs arefacing slim odds of making it through this century. We are going towatch lots of corals die in the next few decades. Some scientists saythis could be the first ecosystem to become extinct. But reefs arenot destined to fail completely, and I am more optimistic about reefsover longer timescales. 

If we do get climate undercontrol and help coral species avoid extinction and tolerate heat,reefs can return. 

I’m optimistic that this will happen eventually,but these future reefs may have fewer species as some go extinct andit may take a long time for the ecosystem to be stable again. 

I’mcertain that coral reefs will have a better chance of bouncing backif they have our help.  

Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your endeavors