Award: OCE-1801945

This project tested whether hurricane-driven fragmentation and survival patterns correlated with the existing genetic structure of coral species to evaluate the long-term impact of storms on asexual propagation of Florida corals. To do this, in-water surveys of coral fragmentation and fragment survival were combined with comprehensive genotyping of fragments and the neighboring intact coral community to identify natural clones and attribute fragments to source colonies. Hurricane Irma resulted in significant coral fragmentation. Counter-intuitively, the number of dislodged corals was more pronounced at the inshore site, which aligns well with prior data showing extensive clonal stands of Orbicella faveolata coral at inshore reefs in Florida. At the offshore site, where it was possible to visually track fragment status over time, we found that the majority of storm-generated fragments were still alive and healthy one full year after the hurricane. Taken together, this supports the hypothesis that hurricanes do play an important role in asexual reproduction of coral species in the Florida Keys. This project provided training for three PhD students and nine undergraduates. This project is a major research focus for one graduate student at UT Austin who presented the results in a poster at a national meeting (Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2020). Two other early-career PhD students at USC were involved in fieldwork and preliminary analyses, gaining valuable experience in how to plan and execute field research. One senior undergraduate student from USC participated in the initial October 2017 site surveys and sampling which contributed material to a short report for his Biological Oceanography course. Eight undergraduate students were involved in sample processing at Matz lab, learning skills in molecular biology. Additionally, the Kenkel Lab hosted several K-12 school groups for tours and presentations on coral biology and ecology, including twenty-six 8th and 9th graders from the Inner City Education Foundation Marine Ambassadors after school program and students from the USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative?s Ocean Research Methods summer course. Last Modified: 02/06/2020 Submitted by: Carly D Kenkel