Saving the Endangered Reefs

Global warming and pollution has put the coral reefs into a dangerous situation. According to a NOAA report published in 2008, "The world has effectively lost 19 percent of the original area of coral reefs; 15 percent are seriously threatened with loss within the next 10-20 years; and 20 percent are under threat of loss in 20-40 years." However, if researcher Mary Hagedorn’s plan works, then the coral reefs can be put back into the seas once it is safe again. Currently, she is working on the first coral bank which will have frozen sperms and eggs from coral all over the world. Unfortunately, the collecting step is very tedious and long. "The trick is to get a sample that captures genetic diversity within a species. Coral reproduces sexually and asexually, so it is possible to end up with a lot of clones," Hagedorn explained. This is bad because reproducing identical species makes a community more vulnerable to diseases and other threats; greater genetic diversity increases the animals' chances of successfully adapting. According to Hagedom, she has to collect samples that contain the species’ genetic diversity. Once collected, Hagedom will freeze them and they will be cultivated when the time is right.

This relates to biology concepts because of it talks of how the coral reefs around the world is being affected by things such as global warming, pollution, diseases and so on. If these coral reefs were to go extinct, then many other species that depend on the corals for shelter and food would also be depleted. Also this article talks about how coral reefs reproduce asexually and sexually and how this could affect the whole species’ genetic diversity. The more diversity it has, the more likely the population can survive.

This article was written because of how extremely important coral reefs are. It is trying to tell us that we should somehow contribute to the restoration of certain coral reefs. If coral reefs are gone, then the people that depend on the fish that the coral reef gives shelter to would go hungry. Also, it is also said that coral reefs provide protection for small islands. These islands would not be there without the reefs. We should all come together to come up with a solution and help the reefs’ population go back up again.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/cryogenic-coral-seed-bank-will-save-endangered-reefs.html