In Situ Coral Nurseries Serve as Genetic Repositories for Coral Reef Restoration After an Extreme Cold-Water Event

Authors

S. Schopmeyer, University of Miami
Diego Lirman, University of Miami
Erich Bartels, Mote Marine Laboratory
James Byrne, The Nature Conservancy - Florida
David S. Gilliam, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
John Hunt, Florida Marine Research Institute
Meaghan E. Johnson, Nova Southeastern University
Elizabeth Anne Larson, Nova Southeastern University
Kerry Maxwell, Florida Marine Research Institute
Ken Nedimyer, Coral Restoration Foundation
Cory Walter, Mote Marine Laboratory

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Restoration Ecology

ISSN

1061-2971

Publication Date

11-2012

Keywords

Acropora, Coral nurseries, Coral restoration, Florida, Mortality, Thermal stress

Abstract

During an unusual cold-water event in January 2010, reefs along the Florida Reef Tract suffered extensive coral mortality, especially in shallow reef habitats in close proximity to shore and with connections to coastal bays. The threatened staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, is the focus of propagation and restoration activities in Florida and one of the species that exhibited high susceptibility to low temperatures. Complete mortality of wild staghorn colonies was documented at 42.9% of donor sites surveyed after the cold event. Remarkably, 72.7% of sites with complete A. cervicornis mortality had fragments surviving within in situ coral nurseries. Thus, coral nurseries served as repositories for genetic material that would have otherwise been completely lost from donor sites. The location of the coral nurseries at deeper habitats and distanced from shallow nearshore habitats that experienced extreme temperature conditions buffered the impacts of the cold-water event and preserved essential local genotypes for future Acropora restoration activities.

DOI

10.1111/j.1526-100X.2011.00836.x

Volume

20

Issue

6

First Page

696

Last Page

703

Comments

©2011 Society for Ecological Restoration International

Additional Comments

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act award #: NA09NFF4630332

NSUWorks Citation

S. Schopmeyer, Diego Lirman, Erich Bartels, James Byrne, David S. Gilliam, John Hunt, Meaghan E. Johnson, Elizabeth Anne Larson, Kerry Maxwell, Ken Nedimyer, and Cory Walter. 2012. In Situ Coral Nurseries Serve as Genetic Repositories for Coral Reef Restoration After an Extreme Cold-Water Event .Restoration Ecology , (6) : 696 -703. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/563.