{"id":436,"date":"2022-12-12T13:20:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T21:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/the-secret-to-saving-coral-reefs-just-like-with-financial-investing-diversification-is-key\/"},"modified":"2023-08-31T13:28:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T20:28:01","slug":"coral-transplants-save-dying-reefs-with-genetic-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/coral-transplants-save-dying-reefs-with-genetic-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"The secret to saving coral reefs? Just like with financial investing, diversification is key"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                                              \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3790-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3790-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"The secret to saving coral reefs? Just like with financial investing, diversification is key\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  A transplanted staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) colony grows on a reef. (Photos: Wyatt Million.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>The secret to saving coral reefs? Just like with financial investing, diversification is key<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Scientists aiming to save failing reefs by transplanting healthy coral reveal that success lies with genetic diversity \u2014 and not a single, coveted \u201csuper coral.\u201d\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Darrin S. Joy<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">December 12, 2022<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 1.5167124.60096154 2.9475732 1.68841575 4.0350274 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\n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Key points:\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n      <ul>\n              <li><p>As climate change continues decimating the worlds\u2019 reefs, transplanting healthy coral onto dying reefs may save them.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n              <li><p>Some transplanted corals seem to thrive while others fail, but researchers weren\u2019t sure why.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n              <li><p>A new study led by USC Dornsife scientists solves the mystery, revealing a path to successful transplants and rejuvenated reefs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n          <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n  \n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>As the health of coral reefs continues to decline under the stress of climate change, researchers aim to rejuvenate failing reefs by transplanting healthy coral. Unfortunately, they\u2019ve found mixed results, as some transplanted coral wither and die while others take root and thrive.<\/p>\n<p>Why some transplanted coral, called \u201coutplants,\u201d flourish and others struggle or perish has remained a mystery, until now. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2203925119\">new study<\/a> led by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and published in the <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/i> reveals the key to successful coral transplantation.<\/p>\n<p>Solving the mystery is critical to restoring dying reefs with transplanted coral, says <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/bisc\/faculty_display.cfm?Person_ID=1016828\">Carly Kenkel<\/a>, Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at USC Dornsife and a corresponding author on the study. And saving reefs remains a global imperative.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/one-earth\/fulltext\/S2590-3322(21)00474-7\">2021 study<\/a>, Earth has lost half of its coral reefs since 1950. This global devastation holds tragic potential: A billion people benefit from reef ecosystems, and the U.S. economy alone gains $3.4 billion per year from them through industries like fishing and tourism, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/coast.noaa.gov\/states\/fast-facts\/coral-reefs.html\">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is it the one or the many?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kenkel\u2019s transplant research centers on the critically endangered Caribbean <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fisheries.noaa.gov\/species\/staghorn-coral\">staghorn coral<\/a>, Acropora cervicornis.<\/p>\n<p>Before the current study, scientists used different individual staghorn coral at various transplant sites and found some outplants fared better at some locations than others. But because they used different coral at different sites, they were unable to narrow down the reason for success or failure: Was it the environment, the coral or a combination of both?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t know if the coral were performing poorly at some sites because the environment was poor, because the individual coral were poor performers, or because those individual coral just happened to be poor performers in that particular environment,\u201d said Kenkel.<\/p>\n<p>To find the answer, Kenkel and Wyatt Million, formerly a PhD student in Kenkel\u2019s lab at USC Dornsife and first author on the study, reduced the number of variables involved. They used clones of just 10 staghorn individuals and transplanted specimens of each at nine well-understood reef sites in the Florida Keys. They then tracked the outplants\u2019 survival, growth, shape and size at each location.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/migration-uploads\/Kenkel-Coral-Transplant-instoryA2-3790.jpg\" width=\"630\" height=\"406\" alt=\"View looking down at a scuba diver over the sea floor holding a tray of small corals\" class=\"size-thumbnail\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coral scientist Carly Kenkel delivers young coral specimens to a natural reef in the Florida Keys.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>They found that both the coral and the environment mattered. No single clone proved strong across all environments; each site saw a different clone step up and adapt for success.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is very important information for reef restoration,\u201d said Kenkel. \u201cIt means that the genetic diversity of coral transplants is going to be important for hedging our bets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As researchers aim to restore reefs, they\u2019ll want to use a variety of individuals to ensure at least one can adapt to the new home.<\/p>\n<p>She likened the idea to investing: \u201cDiversifying your portfolio is safer than betting big on one particular company because even if some companies lose money, others will win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maximizing genetic diversity \u2014 rather than looking for one standout coral to save the day, as has been the trend among researchers \u2014 is a wiser approach, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn these reefs, diversifying coral outplants is safer than betting on one \u2019super coral\u2019 to succeed. There will be winners and losers in every environment. And reefs are really dynamic; each environment can be really different from a coral\u2019s perspective, and they\u2019re going to be even more different as the climate continues to change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cPlastic coral\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The findings also mean scientists will want to focus on how adaptable individual coral can be to various environments, meaning how much an individual can change its shape, size and other characteristics in response to changing environmental factors on the reef.<\/p>\n<p>This \u201cplasticity\u201d could affect the chances of long-term success of outplants over many generations as climate change continues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found that some coral were more plastic than others, and the most plastic coral \u2014 those that were able to grow biggest when it made sense to be big at a particular site or stay smallest when that was a benefit \u2014 were actually the ones who survived the best on average,\u201d Kenkel said.<\/p>\n<p>Study first author Wyatt Million \u2014 formerly a PhD student in Kenkel\u2019s lab and now a postdoc at Germany\u2019s Justus Liebig University Giessen \u2014 warns that coral plasticity isn\u2019t a substitute for addressing climate change at its roots, however.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d like to emphasize that adaptive plasticity is not a magic bullet for coral and cannot replace the goal of reversing the effects of climate change if we hope to ensure the ultimate persistence of coral,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kenkel\u2019s team now aims to dig deeper into what gives coral its plasticity and how it might affect future transplant efforts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to be asking questions like, \u2018Are there any downsides to a coral being more plastic?\u2019 Maybe it doesn\u2019t show up in their lifetime \u2014 maybe it affects their offspring or their ability to produce offspring,\u201d Kenkel said.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ll also study how coral plasticity impacts the function of the whole reef as well as what\u2019s happening at a cellular and molecular level to enable the coral to grow, an avenue Million finds particularly interesting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPerhaps the most pertinent next steps include identifying the genetic basis of this plasticity and whether it belongs to the animal host or the algal symbiont,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Coral have <a href=\"https:\/\/oceanservice.noaa.gov\/education\/tutorial_corals\/coral02_zooxanthellae.html\">microscopic algae living within them<\/a> in a relationship known as \u201csymbiosis.\u201d The algae provide the coral with food and other benefits in exchange for nutrients and a safe place to live.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding the genetics of both organisms will help scientists predict how a coral\u2019s plasticity might evolve over generations with changing climate conditions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About the study<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In addition to Kenkel and Million, researchers on the study include Maria Ruggeri and Sibelle O\u2019Donnell of USC Dornsife; Erich Bartels of Mote Marine Laboratory; Trinity Conn of The Pennsylvania State University; and Cory Krediet of Eckerd College.<\/p>\n<p>This research was supported by NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program grant NA17NOS4820084 and private funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Rose Hills Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists aiming to save failing reefs by transplanting healthy coral reveal that success lies with genetic diversity \u2014 and not a single, coveted \u201csuper coral.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,16,15],"tags":[88,66,67,96,60],"class_list":["post-436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dornsife-global","category-faculty","category-science-and-technology","category-sustainability","tag-biological-sciences","tag-climate-change","tag-marine-and-environmental-biology","tag-natural-sciences","tag-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The secret to saving coral reefs? Just like with financial investing, diversification is key<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/coral-transplants-save-dying-reefs-with-genetic-diversity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The secret to saving coral reefs? Just like with financial investing, diversification is key\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scientists aiming to save failing reefs by transplanting healthy coral reveal that success lies with genetic diversity \u2014 and not a single, coveted \u201csuper coral.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/coral-transplants-save-dying-reefs-with-genetic-diversity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USC Dornsife News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-12T21:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-31T20:28:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3790.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"912\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrin Joy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/coral-transplants-save-dying-reefs-with-genetic-diversity\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/coral-transplants-save-dying-reefs-with-genetic-diversity\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darrin Joy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/851085523b73581e3387a7fc90cadb96\"},\"headline\":\"The secret to saving coral reefs? 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