Published: March. 2, 2012 at 5:49 PM

BRISBANE, Australia, March 2 (UPI) -- Scientists say they are using cutting-edge DNA sequencing technology to protect living fossil trees in Fiji from the impact of climate change.

Peter Prentis from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, said the findings would enable researchers to understand how biological diversity is generated.

"Fiji is a hot spot for biodiversity," he said. "Most of the species that occur in Fiji aren't found anywhere else in the world."

Prentis is using DNA sequencing to study the genes of living fossil tree species, all either endangered or vulnerable, a university release said Friday.

Living fossil is a term for any living species appearing to be the same as a species otherwise only known from fossils and which has no close living relatives.

"With climate change these species are going to have to respond to increasingly changing environmental conditions and an increase in extreme events, such as cyclones," Prentis said.

"We don't know if these living fossil trees have the potential to adjust to these future environments."

The DNA research would compare the vulnerable or endangered tree species with ones more commonly found in Fiji, he said.

"We'll analyze each of the species pairs to find genes that have been important in the process of becoming unique. We're interested in how these rare species evolve," he said.

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'Living fossil' trees in DNA studies