Washington, June 27 A recent study by Australian biologist Jim Underwood has found that despite the fact that corals cast their eggs and sperm haphazardly into the oceans, certain species of coral show remarkable loyalty to their home range.

Underwood sampled DNA from coral reefs in the Indiana Ocean and found that individual corals located in the same group of reefs are more closely related than previously thought.

These results suggest that since most recruitment of these Indian Ocean coral populations comes from other locally sourced coral, one cannot depend on genetic material from distant populations of corals to replenish or restore degraded local populations.

Scientists suggest that in these regions, marine reserves that maintain high local genetic diversity should be favoured. (ANI)