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Loading ...Cryogenic reefs
I must admit I hadn’t thought of this one -apparently the Zoological Society of London is proposing the world’s first ‘cryobank’ for corals (similar to the Millenium Seed Bank project). According to news reports, the proposal is to preserve samples of coral in liquid nitrogen, allowing them to be ‘reintroduced’ at some point in the future:
”Well it’s the last ditch effort to save biodiversity from the reefs which are extremely diverse systems,” said Simon Harding from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
“It would take other work to try and reconstruct the reef so that you can start the process of building up a reef again,” he said.
“That is something that needs to be looked at in detail, but we can definitely store the species and save them in that way.” (Read More)
Interesting proposal, but whilst others might see this as a ‘necassary option’, it fails to get to the root cause of the issue: climate change.
Charlie Veron, former chief scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, said he supported the effort but warned it was no consolation for the eradication of reefs.
Creating coral-style aquariums, similar to the zoos of today, or preserving the genetic make-up of coral samples to “resurrect” reef systems in the future, were not meaningful options, according to Dr Veron.
“These are not solutions,” he said. “Because Australia is home to the biggest coral reef in the world, it should concentrate all its efforts into helping the Great Barrier Reef survive.
“Personally, I feel it’s no compensation to know that the genetic information of corals is kept in machines.” (Read More)
OveHG is Professor and Director of the Centre for Marine Studies at the University of Queensland. He completed his BSc. Hons at the University of Sydney and PhD at UCLA in 1989, and was recognized in 1999 with the Eureka prize for Research into the physiological mechanisms of coral bleaching. Specialising in the impact of climate change on biological systems, Professor Hoegh-Guldberg has worked in polar, temperate and tropical regions, and is well-known for his work on the impacts of ocean warming and acidification on coral reefs. He is currently a Queensland Smart State Premier's fellow, and holds positions as reviewing editor at Science Magazine and chair of the World Bank/GEF working group on coral reefs and climate change.Email this author | View all posts by OveHG
Perhaps we will also have to cryo-preserve a few reef scientists so somebody knows how to rebuild the machine once the world cools off in a few thousand years.
But seriously, this sounds like the kind of thing Steven Levitt would propose as a “cheaper” “solution” to the coral reef-climate change crisis.
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