Abstract Summary
As coral reefs continue to decline due to climate change and other stressors, scientists have proposed adopting genomic tools, such as biomarkers, to aid in conservation and restoration of these threatened ecosystems. Biomarkers are easily measured indicators of higher-order biological processes that can be used to predict or diagnose health, resilience, and other key performance metrics. The goal is to use biomarkers to determine the conservation value and utility of a given coral colony, including the host animal, its algal symbionts, and their microbial partners. However, we remain far from achieving this goal as most efforts have not yet moved beyond the initial discovery phase. Here, we review recent progress in the development of coral molecular biomarkers from a practical standpoint, considering the many challenges that remain as roadblocks to large-scale implementation. We caution practitioners that while biomarkers are a promising technology, they are unlikely to be available for field application in the near future barring a shift in research focus from discovery to the subsequent validation and field trial phases. To facilitate such a change, we propose a stepwise framework to guide additional study in this area, with the aim of accelerating practical molecular biomarker development to enhance coral restoration practice.
