Waterborne DNA provides a picture of coral reef health

By Ben Coxworth

By searching seawater samples for DNA, scientists can tell how many living corals are present on reefs (Credit: Borisoff/Depositphotos)

In these times of coral reef die-offs, it's vitally important to monitor the abundance and variety of corals on the reefs that remain. This is currently performed visually by scuba divers, but there may soon be a quicker, cheaper and easier method – just check the water for coral DNA.

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