(CNN)Australian scientists are optimistic that a fertility treatment for coral could help regenerate the Great Barrier Reef. The 2,300 kilometer long coral reef — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — has been extensively damaged by a process known as coral bleaching in which warm water stresses the organism and causes it to die. Scientists last November took microscopic sperm and eggs during the reef’s annual coral spawning event and put them into giant tanks for fertilization at the Heron Island Research Station. The more than a million coral larvae that resulted were then planted back onto the reef. Peter Harrison on Heron Island. A year later, the team lead by Professor Peter Harrison from Southern Cross University returned to find that the juvenile corals had successfully established themselves on the reef. Read More “This pilot study carried out on Heron Island shows that our new techniques to give corals a helping hand to conceive and then settle, develop and grow in their natural environment can work on the Great Barrier Reef,” Harrison said in a statement. “The success of this new research not only applies to the Great Barrier Reef but has potential global significance — it shows we can… Read full this story
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