The mother of Colombian corals

"At 70, Colombian marine biologist Elvira Alvarado is still diving, researching and training a new generation of scientists. Her mission: rescuing Colombia's endangered coral reefs by reproducing coral through in-vitro fertilization. Her lifelong dedication to these marine invertebrates has earned her the nickname: "the mother of Colombian corals." Coral are vital ecosystems that provide food, shelter and breeding grounds for some 4,000 fish species. They protect shorelines from erosion. They even support tourism by attracting snorkelers and divers."

"However, diseases, pollution and rising ocean temperatures are taking a huge toll. Since the 1970s, more than half of all the coral in the Caribbean have died. "I saw them dying. I saw them turning white," says Alvarado from the Colombian island of San Andres in the Caribbean Sea, where many of the once exotic, garden-like coral reefs are now barren."

Elvira Alvarado began diving nearly 50 years ago and continues researching and training new scientists at age 70. Her mission focuses on rescuing Colombia's endangered coral reefs by reproducing corals through in-vitro fertilization. Coral provide food, shelter and breeding grounds for thousands of fish species, protect shorelines and support tourism. Diseases, pollution and rising ocean temperatures have decimated more than half of Caribbean coral since the 1970s, causing bleaching and starvation. Bleached corals remain alive but weaken and fail to reproduce. Alvarado and a team of divers on San Andres collect coral reproductive material and apply IVF techniques to restore reefs.

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