Abstract Summary
Site selection can be challenging in restoration, as the relationship of colony fitness and survival between nursery and outplanted coral fragments is not necessarily linear. Nearshore nursery-reared fragments (n=7 genets) were used to derive a cumulative thermal stress model that adequately matched the anecdotal bleaching threshold for A. cervicornis in the region. We examined the relationship between metabolism (see poster by H. A. Martell) and growth, disease prevalence, and bleaching prevalence of both nursery and outplanted corals on the inner, middle, and outer reefs of the Southeast Florida Reef Tract, exploiting several years of in situ temperature and monitoring data. This technique offers the ability to combine a relatively simple lab-based model with real time environmental data to aid managers in site selection. It also can reveal genet-level differences in thermal performance. The efficacy and potential applicability of this model will be presented in the context of growth, bleaching prevalence, and disease prevalence for use in restoration programs.
