Saving the Biodiversity and Genetic Diversity of Coral Reefs Through Cryopreservation
Blueprint
ASSESS
Coral reefs are threatened by the global effects of climate change and are in urgent need of conservation action. Elkhorn and Staghorn Coral declines were reviewed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and listed as Threatened in 2006. Red List assessments were completed for all Acropora species (170) in 2008 and 2014. The assessments found that all were decreasing, and both Elkhorn and Staghorn Coral were Critically Endangered. At a minimum, ex situ activities such as artificial propagation and cryopreservation of gametes were determined necessary to help conserve and restore these species.
PLAN
The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service prepared the Elkhorn and Staghorn Coral Recovery Plan in 2015, outlining that no single or collective group of threats impacts all regions of the species’ ranges equally. Many of the important threats to corals are not directly manageable (such as increasing ocean temperatures and acidification) and therefore the Recovery Plan pursues simultaneous actions to address demographic factors, the range of threats, and knowledge gaps. Key among the objectives is a need to conserve genetic diversity and initiate active restoration of populations, including cryopreservation. Fortunately, cryopreservation techniques were already under development for coral by scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and much of these applications to coral were already known.
ACT
In order to help preserve, enhance, and restore threatened species of reef corals, SCBI and partners around the world developed techniques to collect and cryopreserve coral sperm, larvae, and symbionts. This action created the world's first coral cryobank in 2012, which are already beginning to help restore reefs globally. In the Caribbean, cryopreserved and thawed sperm from Elkhorn Coral were used in successful assisted gene flow (AGF) experiments — for the first time crossing fresh eggs with thawed sperm from geographically-distant regions to produce viable offspring. A global coral biobank alliance in the U.S., Europe, and Australia is working together to collect fragments of all 1,000 coral species. This is done by bringing corals into captivity using standardized methodologies, and it has enabled the establishment of living collections. In the future, the living biobank also will allow coral fragments to be collected and frozen from more individuals than could ever fit into standard living collections.
Over the past 10 years, SCBI, in partnership with Taronga Conservation Society Australia, has helped grow the CryoDiversity bank. This bank consists of a large number of coral species and individuals from the Great Barrier Reef, and is now the largest wildlife bank in Australia.
Results
This program launched the first basic studies to successfully cryopreserve coral, thereby creating the field of coral cryopreservation in 2006, creating a global bank in 2021 and assisted gene flow in 2018. Combining the best of coral reproductive science, rearing, and husbandry, live coral can now be produced using frozen and thawed sperm that was previously banked. These techniques are now being used to create new coral for restoring reef systems globally. For example, over 600 AGF-produced coral are now living under human care in Florida; this population is intended to help restore and diversify Florida's depauperate reefs. Frozen repositories now house 48 coral species from the U.S., Australia, French Polynesia, and the Caribbean. The repositories include cryopreserved sperm cells, which may have new genetic adaptations to survive changing ocean conditions. The cryopreservation methods for sperm have been successful with all coral species tested to date, making them widely applicable for all types of coral restoration and are practical to teach to professionals worldwide.
Visual & Audio References
Collaborations
Major
Partners
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) at the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology
Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity (CARMABI) Foundation
Government of Curaçao
Mote Marine Laboratory
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
Coral Restoration Foundation
Florida Aquarium Center for Conservation
Additional
Contributors
Universities and research institutes that have contributed fundamental to cryoscience: Louisiana State University; University of Minnesota; University of California Berkley; University of Calgary; Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; National Animal Germplasm Program
In Australia: Australian Institute for Marine Science; Taronga Conservation Society Australia; Great Barrier Reef Legacy
In Europe: World Coral Conservatoire (Monaco); European Association of Zoos and Aquaria
In French Polynesia: Center of Insular Research and Observatory of Environment (CRIOBE); The French Government; National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS)
Additional global contributors: Coral Biobank Alliance convened by SCBI; Association of Zoos and Aquariums Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project; Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration
Funders
Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; Roddenberry Foundation; Seaver Institute; The Zegar Family Foundation; Roy and Patricia Disney Family Foundation; Matthew Frank Foundation; Volgenau Foundation; Donner Foundation; Anela Kolohe Foundation; Cedar Hill Foundation; Scintilla Foundation; Barrett Foundation; Lou and Chosun Mastriani; Bob and Tamie De Witt; Volgenau-Fitzgerald Family Fund; Taronga Conservation Society Australia; OceanKind; Revive and Restore
Additional Resources
Content Updated as of 9/3/2020