As a conservation neurobiologist, Dr. Ryan has recently embarked on an exciting endeavor to increase marine biodiversity. Specifically, to improve fish habitat throughout Sydney Harbour. It was the unattractive look of the harbor’s embankment walls and pylons that made her creativity flow. She recently co-authored a ground-breaking study investigating how color impacts the cultivation of marine life. Dr. Ryan and her research team spent the next year designing and colorfully orchestrating hundreds of stamped, concrete tiles in her backyard. Colored oxide was mixed throughout the concrete to reproduce the natural pigments in native landscapes, such as rich tones found in sandstone.
As a result, their initial study revealed these colored tiles significantly affected the growth of different invertebrates. Tiles proved more inviting environments for algae and barnacles compared to conventional grey concrete walls. This finding illustrates the promise of incorporating colour into urban marine infrastructure to foster ecological health.
The Experiment
Dr. Ryan’s experiment consisted of attaching the bright tiles to seawalls at various tide levels. Every few months, the research team would watch the growth of marine organisms using a time lapse of the panels. This careful methodical testing meant them to gather detailed and useful data on the effects colours had on invertebrates settlement.
To keep the fish from plucking our new green pillows, we put cages on top of half our panels. This was our intention to test, as we wanted to see if those differences were the result of camouflage. What we found was quite unexpected, that when fish grazed, it didn’t really affect the colour or their settling behaviour,” explained Dr. Ryan.
That simple, low-cost design tweak has proven to be a gamechanger in reestablishing marine habitats that have fallen victim to human impact. And perhaps it can begin to repair the great biodiversity losses we see in our grey, monotonous ecological matrix,” she continued. Conservation’s untapped potential This potential is the key to restoring biodiversity.
Expansion of the Study
Following the initial findings at Sydney Harbour, Dr. Ryan’s study has expanded to include more locations, such as Botany Bay in Sydney’s south. To liven up the drab concrete walls, Dr. Ryan’s team covered them in colorful tiles. They’re working to further understand the value of color to marine biodiversity.
This expansion partially funds our Living Seawalls project. Their mission is to rejuvenate underwater ecosystems, and they do this by creating textured plates with grooves and crevices, acting as habitats found in reefs and mangroves. Ryan is hopeful that by combining these colorful panels with current technology, they can create powerful benefits for our marine ecosystems.
“When we change an environment from its natural condition into a more artificial one, we tend to lose a lot of our natural colour,” Dr. Ryan stated. Adding color to concrete has an additional benefit—this form of color lasts for a long time, even in marine environments. Perhaps best of all, it’s an easily scalable eco-engineering fix.
Future Implications
Dr. Ryan’s research underscores an essential change in the way infrastructures can be made more considerate of nature. Reconnecting sensory cues of nature, such as color, into an urban ecology can facilitate this ecological restoration. This angle further increases the benefits marine biodiversity provides through ecosystem services.
“We can design infrastructure with nature in mind and bring back some of these really important sensory cues like colour, to support marine biodiversity and the important ecosystem services they provide,” concluded Dr. Ryan.
