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Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

20/12/22 08:20 AM IST

Scientists freeze Great Barrier Reef coral in world-first trial

In News
  • Scientists working on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have successfully trialled a new method for freezing and storing coral larvae
About the new Technology
  • The newly developed “cryomesh” technology enables the storage of the coral larvae at -196°C (-320.8°F).
  • It was developed by a team of scientists from the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering.
  • This novel mech technology can be manufactured at lower cost. This is significant since the preceding methods require cutting-edge equipment, including lasers.
  • It is lightweight and ensures better preservation of corals.
  • The technology was initially tested with smaller and larger varieties of Hawaiian corals. The larger varieties of corals failed in the trials.
  • In a December lab trial, the world’s first with Great Barrier Reef coral, scientists used the cryomesh to freeze coral larvae at the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS). The coral had been collected from the reef for the trial, which coincided with the brief annual spawning window.
Great Barrier reef
  • The Great Barrier Reef stretches across a 2,300 km area down Australia’s northeast coast, covering an area equal to the size of Italy. Due to its ecological significance, it was declared a World Heritage Area by UNESCO.
  • It is suffering major bleaching events because of the raising ocean temperatures caused by climate change.
  • Corals are marine animals that get their color and most of their food from the algae living within them.
  • The increased temperature stresses algae on the coral.
  • This causes the corals to expel the algae and then starve to death.
Source- The Print

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