SYDNEY, July 23 (Xinhua) — Australian scientists have found that concrete color significantly influences which marine organisms make their homes in urban seawalls.
Researchers installed red, yellow, green, and grey panels on Sydney Harbor seawalls in Australia’s state of New South Wales, finding that colored concrete, unlike standard grey, mimics natural shoreline hues and better supports marine life, said a release from Sydney-based Macquarie University published on Science Media Exchange on Wednesday.
Over a year, researchers tracked how different marine species colonized each color and found red panels attracted distinct marine communities, including more green algae and barnacles than other colors.
“Many marine animals respond to light and color when choosing a place to settle,” said the study’s senior author Laura Ryan from Macquarie University’s School of Natural Sciences.
Even when overgrown, panel color continued to shape marine communities, according to the study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
Macquarie University and Sydney Institute of Marine Science researchers proposed colored concrete as a low-cost and scalable solution for restoring marine ecosystems in concrete-dominated urbanized coastlines. ■