The Great Barrier Reef and other reef systems around the world are threatened by multiple processes, particularly warming and ocean acidification as a result of climate change. Reefs are complex life support systems, and their degradation has devastating impacts on marine life and on terrestrial animal populations, including humans. 

Conditions imposed by climate change and a strong El Nino triggered two waves of mass coral bleaching starting in late summer of 2016, leading to sharp declines in coral species and habitats. There have been additional bleaching events totalling four since 2016 with the most recent in 2022. Events like these are precisely why we have been putting all our efforts into establishing and applying the science around coral cryopreservation, as a means of saving genetic diversity which could otherwise be lost forever. 

Taronga is the leading organisation in Australia applying cryopreservation technologies to reef management, restoration and research, for conservation management of the Great Barrier Reef via our Reef Recovery Program

Late last year, coral spawning was in full swing on the Great Barrier Reef. Taronga’s Cryo team worked with Australian Government partners at the National Sea Simulator, the world’s largest research aquarium, adjacent to the central GBR, south of Townsville. 

Work involved partnerships with First Nations Peoples, Government, National and International Universities, philanthropists, and others to develop restoration and adaptation solutions that can be deployed at scale within the next ten years, to help the Great Barrier Reef survive climate change. 

Taronga Conversation Scientists undertook two spawning trips, cryopreserving over 500 vials of sperm from 11 species of coral from the Bindal and Manbarra Sea Countries. With two new species added, Taronga’s CryoDiversity Bank now holds samples from 32 Great Barrier Reef species, making it the largest biorepository of living coral cells worldwide. 

Taronga’s important work is made possible by the support of Taronga’s Principal Sponsor, Citi Australia, and is delivered as part of the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, funded by a partnership between the Australian Government's #reeftrust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation to develop effective interventions to help the Reef resist, adapt to, and recover from the impacts of climate change. 

Learn more about lead Conversation Scientist, Dr Jon Daly, and his work on the Reef Recovery Program below.