HAIKOU, March 4. /TASS/. China's Hainan began building a germplasm storage facility to conserve biodiversity in the South China Sea. According to the Hainan Daily, the gene bank of flora and fauna will be finally formed by 2023.
The total investment in this project reaches 22 million yuan (about $ 3.4 million). Experts have already set out on scientific expeditions to collect biological samples in the coastal waters of Hainan and the evergreen mangrove forests that grow in the island's tidal strip. In the future, the expedition will be equipped for deep-sea research.
The implementation of this project, the newspaper writes, will strengthen the protection of biological resources of germplasm in the South China Sea, will help accelerate applied research in agriculture and fisheries, and will also contribute to the sustainable and healthy development of the aquatic industry.
A genebank is a repository of genetic material (tissues, seeds, pollen, etc.) and related data about organisms. Typically, samples are stored in such banks at extremely low temperatures.
Hainan pays special attention to the study of local flora and fauna, as well as the protection of the island's ecosystem. On the island, scientific deep-sea expeditions are regularly equipped to collect data on the oceanic environment and biodiversity of the South China Sea. The province is currently establishing a large state-of-the-art laboratory for deep-sea ocean research in Sanya, which will promote the intensive development of the economic potential of the South China Sea.