Coral reef biodiversity vastly underestimated

A new paper published on PLoS ONE by researchers with the Smithsonian states that conventional survey methods have vastly underestimated the number of species on coral reefs. In just 20 square feet of reef they found 168 species of crab for instance - that totals nearly as many as found in all of Europe's seas. The researchers used DNA barcoding for their analysis. "The finding of such large numbers of species in a small total area suggests that coral reef diversity is seriously under-detected using traditional survey methods, and by implication, underestimated." Considering what comes out of our live rocks, are you surprised?

More:
Coral reef biodiversity may be vastly underestimated

PLoS ONE:
PLoS ONE: The Diversity of Coral Reefs: What Are We Missing?

 

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing Matt.8)

 

WOW awesome, and not surprising with what comes out of live rock.

Thanks for sharing.

 

ya know, when I first got started I got suckered into buying all my rock as live rock. I didn't know better.

Supposedly it's from Fiji.

When I think of the critters and weird things that have started growing in my tank over the years, I'm really glad that happened and I didn't start with predominantly base rock.

Seemed like it was a relevant ;D anecdote