[Coral-List] ICRS 2021 Session 13C – Creating Coral Reefs in Waiting

Kuffner, Ilsa B ikuffner at usgs.gov
Thu Sep 3 20:44:43 UTC 2020


Hello Coral Reef Community,
It is hard to believe that September is upon us and ICRS 2021 abstracts are due in less than two weeks (September 15)! Please consider submitting an abstract to our session:
13C - Creating coral reefs in waiting: How can we leverage evolutionary ecology to maximize the adaptive potential of restored coral populations?
The link to the ICRS2021 call for abstracts is here: https://www.icrs2021.de/program/call-for-abstracts/
Our new combined-session abstract:
Coral populations have suffered dramatic declines due to increasing seawater temperatures and other stressors over the past four decades. However, coral reef ecosystems still exist across a wide range of biophysical settings, offering hope that adequate heterogeneity in coral populations exists upon which natural selection can act to allow species to persist. Further hope lies in the idea that humans can assist through active interventions and restoration measures based on ecological and evolutionary principles. From an evolutionary ecology perspective, the goal of coral restoration efforts is to establish self-sustaining, sexually reproducing populations that have sufficient genetic and phenotypic variation to adapt to changing environments. Corals pose unique challenges and advantages when designing effective restoration measures due to their life history that includes asexual and sexual reproduction as well as symbioses with microalgae and prokaryotes. The nature of coral reef ecosystems also provides unique opportunities for restoration design because reef environments are so variable in water-temperature regime, water clarity, level of nutrients and pollutants, wave energy, exposure to major storms, proximity to land effects, and exposure to human settlements. For this session, we invite talks that inform on how we might leverage naturally occurring genetic and phenotypic variability and environmental gradients to increase the likelihood of restoration success. We anticipate talks that address the development of new tools including biomarkers and large-scale genotyping platforms, those that quantify phenotypes such as coral growth metrics, colony morphology, symbiont and microbiome assemblages, and those that answer questions about the scale and speed of adaptation to changing conditions. Studies that link genetic characterization with phenotypic expression, that explore inbreeding and outbreeding depression, hybridization, gene flow, and interactions with symbionts and other species in the community are also welcomed. The ability to harness holobiont plasticity and stress response in a heterogeneous environment is at the core of creating "coral reefs in waiting," i.e., the collection of pieces required for natural reef reassembly and persistence into the Anthropocene.
Wishing you well!
Your session leads,
Ilsa B. Kuffner 1, Joanie A. Kleypas2, Les Kaufman3, Lisa J. Rodrigues4, Iliana Baums 5, John Parkinson6, Sarah Davies3, Sheila Kitchen 5, Margaret Miller 7
1 U.S. Geological Survey (St. Petersburg, FL, USA)
2 National Center for Atmospheric Research (Boulder, CO, USA)
3 Boston University (Boston, MA, USA)
4 Villanova University (Villanova, PA, USA)
5 Pennsylvania State University (State College, PA, USA)
6 University of South Florida (Tampa, FL, USA)
7 SECORE International (Hillard, OH, USA)


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Ilsa B. Kuffner, Ph.D.

U.S. Geological Survey

St. Petersburg Coastal & Marine Science Center

600 4th Street South

St. Petersburg, FL 33701



Email: ikuffner at usgs.gov<mailto:ikuffner at usgs.gov>

Tel: (727) 502-8048
Fax: (727) 502-8001
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/crest/
https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/ilsa-b-kuffner

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8804-7847

http://ow.ly/8F4M50xpQ4R

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