169
submitted 2 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

It is one of the least understood processes in nature. How do two very different species learn to live with each other and create a bond, known as symbiosis, which can give them a powerful evolutionary advantage?

Coral reefs are the most spectacular manifestations of symbiosis – and understanding the mechanics of this mutual endeavour has become an urgent task as global warming has triggered the widespread collapse of reefs across the planet.

In a bid to halt this destruction, an international group of researchers led by the Wellcome Sanger Institute is working together on the Aquatic Symbiosis Genomics (ASG) project. Powerful DNA sequencers are now unravelling the genetic secrets of coral, data that could be vital in saving the world’s reefs, and understanding the mysterious processes that drive symbiosis.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

I have to say, I do wonder if reefs will just gradually shift to higher latitudes.

It may just be that the water temperature is increasing faster than the reefs can migrate. But if that's the case, we can work with that. There has been remarkable success growing reefs by putting starter structures on the seafloor and then seeding them with coral. If we start doing that in places we previously thought to be to cold for coral, that has potential to work...

[-] SeemsNormal@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

But it’s more than just temperature. Add salinity to the equation. I can’t tell you how salinity of any particular place changes with a temperature change, but it does. Add current, add all the other chemicals that are dropped into the ocean….

How does every coral on the the Great Barrier Reef know to spawn one time a year? How does a turtle find its way back to the place they were born to lay eggs? There are nuances well beyond our understanding and will outlive us. Coral will come back, but perhaps not in its current form, and probably not in our lifetimes.

[-] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

There's a lot we don't know about ocean ecosystems in general, that's very true. Saving the coral is a very hard problem. But to be honest, we're human, hard problems are our bread and butter. Often, we prefer them to easy problems.

this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2024
169 points (97.7% liked)

News

23413 readers
1580 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS