22 billion Coral Embryos Frozen To Save Great Barrier Reef

Discussion in 'Environmental' started by Matt Rogers, Jan 26, 2012.

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  1. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    In a race against time, scientists from the Smithsonian Institute and Australian Institute of Marine Science are freezing billions of coral embryos and sperm from Australia's Great Barrier Reef in an effort to catalogue present day species and one day restore them there. Part of the process involves removing corals from the reef and bringing them into aquariums to spawn. The sperm and embryos are then suspended in a liquid nitrogen chamber and the coral glued back in its original location on the reef! The ambitious project is directed by Rebecca Spindler whom is confident her techniques will help reseed wild populations.

    <iframe frameborder="0" width="560" height="315" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xmmiji"></iframe><br /><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmmiji_scientists-look-to-cryogenics-to-preserve-coral-reefs_news" target="_blank">Scientists Look to Cryogenics to Preserve Coral...</a> <i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/NewsLook" target="_blank">NewsLook</a></i>

    More:
    Scientists freeze Great Barrier Reef coral sperm and embryos | Space, Military and Medicine | News.com.au
     
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  3. tattoolew

    tattoolew Sea Dragon

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    neat, I have always thought "what if we could do that years ago and save things like the Caspian Tiger,Passenger Pigeon, and Baiji Dolphin."
     
  4. SeminoleB

    SeminoleB Coral Banded Shrimp

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    I hope it works! Having dove the southern coast of Florida, from Jupiter to Key West, for 10 years now I have seen corals and other inverts suffer and deplete from bleaching, algae blooms and just plain boater carelessness. Strides have been taken to help but they are still disappearing. This would be great if it works!!! Thanks Matt, for the info!
     
  5. pho88

    pho88 Fire Worm

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    that is very interesting!hope it works!
     
  6. 55gfowlr

    55gfowlr Zoanthid

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    It actually makes me sad to think that we have to take that much effort because people are truly witnessing our oceans reefs simply die off. It's not easy, nor is it cheap to cryogenicly freeze a living species. It then has to be continually monitored from that point on, to make sure everything goes right, forever. A continuous supply of money has to be kept for this to happen. If they are taking this drastic of measures, things are obviously very worse than anybody is being told.
     
  7. SwimsWithFish

    SwimsWithFish Giant Squid

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  9. inwall75

    inwall75 Giant Squid

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    I am surprised I missed this.
     
  10. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    Very cool effort, hope it is successful beyond their wildest dreams.