Project Phoenix: DNA unlocks a new understanding of coral

Scientists have developed a new genetic tool that can help them better understand and ultimately work to save coral reefs.

"Surprisingly, we still don't know how many coral species live on the Great Barrier Reef, how to identify them, or which species live where. And those are the first steps in saving an ecosystem like that," said Dr. Peter Cowman from the ARC Centre of Excellence at James Cook University (Coral CoE at JCU).

Dr. Andrea Quattrini, curator of corals at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, developed the new genetic tool. She said it provides a way forward with plans to secure the future of coral reefs.

"By comparing thousands of key genetic coral features, we were able to discern the evolutionary relationships of corals from the Great Barrier Reef and broader Indo-Pacific region," Dr. Quattrini said. "The result is a new classification that provides important scientific knowledge to assess the various intervention strategies currently being proposed on the Great Barrier Reef and elsewhere."

Some of the interventions being proposed on the reef include hybridizing species and moving some populations south.