Outside the city of Townsville, Australia a group of scientists is breeding 'super coral' in the hope that they might better withstand the ocean's record breaking heat levels and strengthen the Great Barrier Reef living just offshore.Just after the full moon, Annika Lamb goes into work late at night. She puts on a headlamp with a red light and peers into large tanks of water in a marine science lab.
It's estimated that a quarter of all marine species depend on coral reefs. Biologists say that's a best guess, since life on reefs is so dense, it's very likely there are species yet to be discovered. Reefs are also vital for humans. Half a billion people depend on coral reefs for food, livelihoods and flood protection, since reefs can dissipate the power of waves hitting shore.
During coral bleaching the algae that live inside coral, providing them with food and their bright colors, are expelled from the coral, leaving them without their major food source.The corals inside Annika Lamb's tanks are all contenders to help reefs survive, but not all of them are winners. They're labeled with a ranking, like athletes after a race.
"We have 25 corals here that got ranked from number one, being our most resilient coral, all the way down to 25, which was our most thermally sensitive coral," she says, peering into the tank. Selective breeding has been used by humans for millennia on crops and livestock. Now, as the climate gets hotter, it's being used for conservation.As a result, Lamb says they're trying out all combinations of parents. And once the babies grow, are putting them onto the Great Barrier Reef to see how they survive in the wild. Other corals they're testing out are being crossbred, where two different species are combined to create hybrids.
The stakes became painfully clear in Florida and the Caribbean in 2023, when the ocean temperatures broke records. The heat was so intense, some corals died outright, even before they had the chance to bleach.of one sensitive species, staghorn coral, was left alive. Some of the corals that were lost had been grown specifically to restore the reef.
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Fonte: physorg_com - 🏆 388. / 55 Consulte Mais informação »