[ad_1]
According to marine biologists, a Noah’s Ark-like plan to house hundreds of the world’s most endangered coral species in a publicly accessible bank near the Great Barrier Reef could prove to be an important part of long-term coral conservation.
The Living Coral Biobank, labeled a “Coral Ark” by its supporters, would serve as a technologically advanced facility where 800 different types of stony corals would be stored and bred, in case live samples were needed to revive the wiped out populations in kind in the future.
Inspired by Norway’s global seed repository and with an architecture influenced by mushroom coral, the bank will also include a functional space, research labs and serve as an aquarium-like tourist attraction for Port Douglas in the far north of Queensland, a gateway to the adjacent Great Barrier Reef.
If built, members of the public would be able to see corals from around the world while kept in tightly controlled environments and have a chance to observe the coral’s night glow.
The facility would be the physical basis for the larger Biobank project, a worldwide network of aquariums – both commercial and residential – aimed at coordinating the conservation of diverse coral samples in case global populations further suffer from misuse and bleaching.
Great Barrier Reef Legacy, the nonprofit group behind the Biobank, will begin harvesting coral for conservation next week, when the first of its dive teams will take samples of around 20 different coral species from across the reef to be temporarily housed in the Cairns marina.
The project has already secured approximately $ 4.8 million in partnership agreements, including a land allotment for the bank in Port Douglas, sustainable architecture plans from global Contreras Earl, and support from the Australian Climate Council.
Biobank director and marine biologist Dr Dean Miller told the Guardian that he hopes the biobank facility will be built and house 800 coral species by 2025.
He said the project will need the support of “an Elon Musk or a Richard Branson” if its facility is to be built, but that the Biobank network can “survive like Uber” by relying on public and personal aquariums instead of own physical infrastructure – until the foundation can be built.
“We have seen very serious bleaching events and came to this conclusion that there were some great conservation projects out there, but it had been many years since they were made and they would only protect a few types of coral.
Miller said the Biobank Network will be “a life support system for corals” and that “there is a time pressure on this with every bleaching event that occurs.”
“Every year we wait, we lose corals and we have no time to waste.”
Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a coral bleaching researcher at the University of Queensland who is unrelated to Biobank, told Guardian Australia that the idea was “very worthy,” and that he recently co-authored a paper. who supported the creation of a “Coral Ark”.
However Hoegh-Guldberg stressed that the Biobank should be pursued alongside several conventional conservation strategies, including marine park rules for sustainable fishing.
He said that curbing climate change, which can warm waters and lead to coral bleaching, must be at the heart of conservation efforts.
“If we don’t put our actions together now, we may need this as plan B.”
Corals on the Great Barrier Reef have more than halved over the past 25 years, according to a recent study that prompted scientists to once again warn that the world-famous landmark will become unrecognizable without a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Last year, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, in its five-year reef health report, downgraded the outlook for the world’s largest reef system to “very poor.” He has repeatedly stated that climate change was the “single biggest challenge” for the 2,300km barrier system.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
