Similar to the expeditions of a hundred or two hundred years ago, the Tara Pacific expedition lasted over two years. The goal: to research the conditions for life and survival of corals. The ship crossed the entire Pacific Ocean, assembling the largest genetic inventory conducted in any marine system to date. The team's 70 scientists from eight countries took around 58,000 samples from the hundred coral reefs studied. The first results of the analysis have now been published in Nature Communications. This largest-ever dataset collection on coral reef ecosystems is freely available and, for years to come, will be the basis for elucidating the living conditions for corals and finding a way for them to survive climate change.
Important first results of the expedition: Global microbial biodiversity is much higher than previously thought. The impacts of the environment on evolutionary adaptation are species-specific. And, important genes in corals are duplicated.
Read more at: Universitat Konstanz
Photo Credit: Anna Roik