Scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Biology have developed a technique for measuring the amount of living coral on a reef by analyzing DNA in small samples of seawater.
Scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Biology have developed a technique for measuring the amount of living coral on a reef by analyzing DNA in small samples of seawater. The new research by Patrick Nichols, a graduate student in the marine biology graduate program, and Peter Marko, an associate professor in the Department of Biology, was published in Environmental DNA.
Underwater visual surveys are used widely in coral reef ecology and are an important part of any coral reef monitoring program. However, visual surveys are typically conducted using SCUBA diving, which can be both time-consuming and logistically challenging.
As an efficient complement to visual surveys, the analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA), DNA sloughed or expelled from organisms into the environment, has been used to assess species diversity, primarily in aquatic environments. The technique takes advantage of the fact that all organisms constantly shed DNAinto the environment, leaving behind a genetic residue that can be detected and analyzed with molecular biology tools.
Read more at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Photo: Drone imagery of coral patches along the coast of Maunalua Bay, Oʻahu, where researchers in the Marko Lab use coral DNA from filtered seawater to assess coral cover on local reefs. Photo courtesy of Patrick K. Nichols.
