Breakthrough in Caribbean coral restoration

[Altamira]

Found this on CNN.com this morning. It may be old news for some readers, but I found it interesting and encouraging.

CNN Exclusive: Scientists make major breakthrough in race to save Caribbean coral

Elkhorn coral once dominated the Caribbean. But, just as other vital coral ecosystems are degrading around the world, elkhorn are now rarely seen alive in the wild.

www.cnn.com

 

[<*)))><]

That article is fascinating! Thanks for posting. Nice to read some good news occasionally. A rare thing regarding the environment

 

[drrich2]

Really good article. A lot of hurdles remain to effectively re-establishing them, but a breakthrough in propagation is great news.

 

[Doc]

Have a gawk:
Corals Upend Longstanding Idea About Genetic Inheritance

 

[lowwall]

Have a gawk:
Corals Upend Longstanding Idea About Genetic Inheritance

Lamarckian evolution! Stalin would be so pleased.


If you have no idea what I'm talking about: Lysenkoism - Wikipedia

 

[Doc]

@lowwall You’re smarter than I look.

As an elderly mentor, former ONI/OSS used to say, “Them pesky Rooshins”.

 

[PatW]

Lamarckian evolution! Stalin would be so pleased.


If you have no idea what I'm talking about: Lysenkoism - Wikipedia

Not really, Lamark had the notion that acquired characteristics could be inherited. His example was giraffes stretching their neck to reach leaves on high branches. The Baron Cuvier conducted an experiment that disproved Lamark’s idea and ridiculed Lamark to boot. The experiment was a bit flawed but it persuaded people at the time.

Somatic mutations like germ line mutations are random changers in DNA sequences, so they are not in any sense Lamarkian evolution. It is interesting but coelenterates, the phylum to which corals belong, are pretty different than the ”higher” phyla so it is something that would be a special case,

 

[lowwall]

Not really, Lamark had the notion that acquired characteristics could be inherited. His example was giraffes stretching their neck to reach leaves on high branches. The Baron Cuvier conducted an experiment that disproved Lamark’s idea and ridiculed Lamark to boot. The experiment was a bit flawed but it persuaded people at the time.

Somatic mutations like germ line mutations are random changers in DNA sequences, so they are not in any sense Lamarkian evolution. It is interesting but coelenterates, the phylum to which corals belong, are pretty different than the ”higher” phyla so it is something that would be a special case,

First, I want to note that I was just trying to make a fun comment on the first thing that struck me when I read the article. I wasn't trying to imply anything profound.

That said, the heart of Larmarckism (note the "c") is the ability to pass on characteristics acquired during an organism's lifetime. Since Lamarck posited this prior to the understanding of DNA, his hypothesis for the cause of this was the use/disuse of the traits in the parent. But substituting a different cause - in this case the appearance of DNA mutations in germ cells that an organism acquired during its life in somatic (i.e. non-germ-line) cells - doesn't change the central tenet of Larmarckism.

But I've got no objection to calling it Neo-Lamarckism if you prefer