Image via University of Hawaii at Manoa, Credit: Virginia Carter
As corals face a daily bashing through warm, polluted waters, the scientists at University of Hawaii at Manoa and the Smithsonian Institution are building up a bank of frozen sperm and embryos of Hawaiian coral species, just in case. The diversity of coral species is vital to Hawaii’s marine ecosystems, providing the habitat necessary for the survival of the myriad of fish, crustacean and plant species around the islands. So of course, researchers want to do all they can to protect them from extinction. In theory, the frozen cells can be unfrozen even 1,000 years in the future to restore populations.
Source: Jaymi Heimbuch, treehugger.com
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