Saving Microscopic Threatened Species

Interesting article...

Science Daily

 

"...As many aquarium enthusiasts already know, coral can be easily reared in captivity--new colonies can grow from broken fragments of parent colonies. Those new colonies, however, are clones with the same genetic makeup as the parent coral.

For this reason, the National Zoo's work with the artificial insemination and captive breeding of coral as a member of SECORE is essential to fighting its extinction. Genetic diversity is key in any species bred for eventual release into the wild. The more genetically diverse a population, the greater its chance of surviving various environmental stresses..." .



Great Article!

Thanks for posting. :thumb_up:

 

IMO, hobbiest are going to be the ones who eventually save the reefs. I guess they dont think about all the the coloinies they collected from more then likely came from the same parent colony that got broke during a storm (fragmenting) a 1000 yrs ago or something like that so all of the same species of coral within several 100 square miles or more are more then likely from the same coral that evolved into that species. So genetic diversity is going to be very slim for wild colonies.

Now if you take 2 frags from 2 different tanks from different parts of the country, more then likely you are going to get 2 different strains of the same species which would be better then collecting them from several different corals on one reef which is more then likly brothers or sisters from the original colony.

 

I read that article last night and thought about posting it. It is a good article. If they can make corals out of the egg and sperm why can't they do like an artificial insemination on the reefs...just a thought..