Acropora

To date, gamete (egg and sperm) development has been induced in 18 Acropora species, with planned spawns leading to in-vitro fertilization capacity and the production of genetically diverse coral in captivity.

Acropora prolifera, a hybrid, was also identified at the VRS.

Moreover, somatic mutations in microsatellite loci have been utilized to approximate clonal age in the reef coral Acropora palmata (Devlin-Durante et al., 2016), and the probability of detecting intraorganismal genetic variation in long-lived trees is thought to be primarily dependent on size and/or age (Whitham and Slobodchikoff, 1981; Gill et al., 1995).

A total of 34 species of corals are recorded in Ghantoot of which 40 per cent are threatened, like the endemic species Acropora arabensis.

Grottoli's team tested two species of coral that are extremely common around the world, Acropora millepora, or staghorn coral, and Turbinaria reniformis, or yellow scroll coral.

Each plot has 100,000 coral larvae of Acropora tenuis (branching coral) and Favites colemani (massive coral), Gomez said.

The biogeographic region has one of the highest coral diversity in the world, harboring threatened species like the vulnerable staghorn coral (Acropora abrolhosensis) and dana staghorn coral (Acropora aculeus), and serves as an important source and sink not only for coral larvae but also for fish and other marine species.

Assessment of Acropora palmata in the Mesoamerican Reef system.

Only a few hardy and resilient corals survived, including some massive Porites colonies that had survived previous El Nino events over many decades and a few colonies of Acropora, Pocillopora, and Hydnophora (Boyle et al.

Caption: Clockwise from above: wild staghorn coral (acropora cervicornis); a section of Mote's recently planted 500 staghorn corals on Hope Reef; staff biologist Christopher Page monitoring coral fragments growing in the raceways at Mote's Tropical Research Lab on Summerland Key.

Located about a mile off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, the NSU coral nursery is fostering re-growth and increased abundance of the threatened staghorn coral species, Acropora cervicornis, which is likely to be soon listed as endangered under the U.S.