[Coral-List] cross-ocean coral transplantation idea

[Mikhail V Matz]

Hi colleagues - I have been away from this list for a while and I heard there was quite a bit of confusion and negativity here regarding recent article in Nature News section (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00102-y). This is about the idea that we might need to import Indo-Pacific corals to rescue the ecological function of Caribbean reefs. 

I’d like to explain myself - my argument is a bit more nuanced that the Nature article had it. 

Here is a short thread I made about it on twitter/X: https://x.com/heatshok/status/1746927500075106495?s=20

And here is the copy of the actual presentation I gave at SICB 2024: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1AnNOklpFIsvtIe0lh4yona8GAeGHdvBSq6Byl2_UyEo/edit?usp=sharing

Long story short: 
- it is not about just moving some corals over, it is about bringing a new “super-recruiter” life history type, which gives reefs high resilience in the Indo-Pacific but has never evolved in Caribbean.
- it is not a call to just start plopping corals from one ocean into another. It is a call to carefully consider this idea and initiate research to make sure it can be done safely and efficiently, if it ever comes to that. I surely hope it won’t, but if it does, we must be ready.

Please let me know what you think. I’d appreciate if you emailed me directly to matz at utexas dot edu . 

cheers
Misha Matz