Gene Banking Florida’s Porites astreoides and additional weedy coral species

Florida’s coral reefs have experienced extensive losses of living coral cover over recent decades due to repeated thermal bleaching, disease outbreaks, water-quality stressors, and ocean acidification (Fisher 2023). Coral biorepositories, or coral gene banks, help ensure that important genetic diversity is not lost from Florida’s Coral Reef (Hagedorn et al. 2025; Hagedorn et al. 2021). As restoration efforts expand, weedy coral species, which are stress-tolerant and increasingly dominant on present-day reefs, remain underrepresented in Florida’s coral biorepositories relative to their ecological importance (Toth et al. 2019; Darling et al. 2012).
 

This project addressed that gap by acquiring living fragments and tissue samples from seven target weedy coral species: Porites astreoides, Agaricia agaricites, Siderastrea siderea, Siderastrea radians, Solenastrea bournoni, Solenastrea hyades, and Stephanocoenia intersepta. Collections spanned four reef zones across six Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)-prioritized regions of the Florida Coral Reef. Corals were acquired through direct collections of corals of opportunity (COOs), transfers from Florida restoration organizations, and rescue corals obtained by the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) from nearshore construction projects.
 

In total, 287 colonies were collected from 71 unique reef sites across 17 logged field expedition days. These included 244 genotypes from targeted weedy species and 43 genotypes from other species in demand by the Gene Bank. Each colony received a unique coral ID linking underwater photographs, scale-bar photographs, GPS coordinates, depth, reef zone, environmental parameters, and tissue samples preserved in DNA/RNA Shield and ethanol. Collections were conducted under Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary permit #FKNMS-2026-048 and Special Activity License #SAL-24-2116-SRCP. Live colonies and tissue samples were transferred to Mote’s International Coral Gene Bank in Sarasota, Florida, resulting in a fivefold increase in their gene-banked weedy coral genotypes.