Meeting Abstract
Reef building corals, engineers of Earth’s most productive and diverse ecosystem, are at risk of extinction on a global scale. Among numerous threats, climate change is perhaps the most prominent; rising sea temperatures threaten to decouple the obligate symbiosis between corals and intracellular Symbiodinium algae, a process known as bleaching. Mass bleaching events lead to disease outbreaks and coral mortality. Management strategies can prevent over exploitation and nutrient loading while coral restoration strategies can repopulate degraded reefs, but climate change effects cannot be locally mitigated. Therefore, it is crucial for restoration groups to identify and facilitate adaptation and/or acclimatization within their nurseries. A model for coral restoration, the Caribbean Staghorn Coral, Acropora cervicornis, has declined precipitously from historic levels and is now listed as federally endangered. Coral restoration nurseries throughout the Caribbean now regularly grow and transplant this species back to the reef. However, it is not clear whether certain staghorn coral genotypes will be more or less capable of survival in thermal stress scenarios. In order to inform these nurseries, our group has conducted a preliminary investigation on the potential for inter-genotypic differences in thermal tolerance of nursery corals. Using Symbiodinium typing and quantification, photosynthetic efficiency, and polyp extension, we have identified significant and predictive differences between nursery genotypes which vindicate further investigation. By identifying genotypes with greatest potential for survival in future conditions, we hope to increase the resiliency of restored reefs in the Anthropocene.
