Australian scientists have identified what could be the biggest clone in the world: a network of seagrass meadows that covers around 200 square kilometers and can be immortal. The submarine field refers to a plant which has been continuously self-replicating for approximately 4,500 years.
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Clones have been with us for a long time, as nature has been making them for thousands of years. Clone is a word that comes from the Greek klon, which means vegetable sprout. In this sense, the word was created to name individuals that originate from others through asexual reproduction, very common among plants.
The huge undersea field became known as scientists researched the genetic diversity of seagrass in Shark Bay, a shallow-water marine domain located in Western Australia. From their research, they found that virtually all ribbon meadows (
Posidonia australis) located in the region are genetically identical.Subsequently, analyzes indicated that, unlike other seagrass in the region, which reproduce sexually, the P. australis it is cloning itself through an underground network of branching roots.
When viewed from the surface — in this case, the sandy sea floor — the seagrass clumps appear to be separate specimens. However, on a genetic level, they are basically the same plant.
According to the researchers, there is a possibility that the meadows of P. australis have been fully connected before and, over time, have been fragmented by the grazing of marine animals or possible extreme heat waves.
Marine meadows are a valuable resource, since, in addition to contributing to the stability of the marine substrate, to the retention of sediments, absorb nutrients and provide food, also support very diverse communities of macroinvertebrates and fish around Worldwide.
