The potential exists, with proper preservation methods, to get a picture of such factors as sea surface temperature back through the Ice Ages. But Potts found that even after three to four years of working at the same site, he still couldn't separate the species of coral from one another. Conversely, corals that looked identical turned out to be so different genetically that they had to be different species. The skeletal characteristics traditionally used by both geologists studying fossil limestones for past oceanographic and climatic conditions and biologists studying the living organisms are often extremely variable and may contain very little species-specific information. Potts and co-workers Ronald Garthwaite, population geneticist and taxonomist, and Ann Budd, professor of geology at the University of Iowa who analyzes coralskeletons, are working on methods to characterize species that can be used reliably by ecologists, biologists, and geologists.
Enzymes are products of the genes that contain instructions for their manufacture.
Enzymes are composed of molecules that have minute electrical charges that vary according to species and is measureable by a process called gel electrophoresis. The rate at which the molecules move across a charged starch gel is a species' chemical profile is produced that allows researchers to consistently identify organisms. As a first step, he envisions a multi-disciplinary marine systematics and biodiversity program based at UC Santa Cruz that includes scientists from other institutions around the bay. He and Associate Professor of Marine Sciences Bess Ward have submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to establish a molecular systematics laboratory for support of modern systematic and biodiversity research on marine biotas. The immediate goals are to make modern molecular approaches available to organismal biologists, and to increase the numbers of scientists trained in theory and practice of modern marine taxonomy and sytematics.