Abstract Summary
Worldwide coral transplantation efforts are being undertaken to restore reefs lost to climate change-induced bleaching and disease. Successful reef restoration efforts to date are limited to shallow depths above 10 meters with fast growing corals, despite the loss of many coral species across a wide range of depths. In this study, we constructed Orbicella faveolata and Orbicella annularis restoration nurseries along a depth gradient to test coral survival and growth capacity at different depths, to facilitate restoration activities at greater depths in the future. We assessed 10 genets of each species at 20 m and 30 m (n=15), using a total of 600 fragments. We identified two genets which we found to be highly successful across depths. We did not find significant differences in coral survival between depths. Out of 300 fragments at each depth, 46% (138 fragments) survived at 30 m, while 52% (158 fragments) survived at 20m. This preliminary study identifies favorable genotypes for future transplantation and emphasizes the importance of genotype selection during transplantation.
