Variability in Fitness Trade-Offs Amongst Coral Juveniles With Mixed Genetic Backgrounds Held in the Wild

Colonies of Acropora tenuis were collected from the Great Barrier Reef from far northern and central regions at reefs Curd, Sand Bank 7, Long Sandy, Davies and Backnumbers. Gravid colonies were held in outdoor holding tanks at the National Sea Simulator facility at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (Townsville) for spawning.Colonies were isolated in individual containers from 26th – 29th November 2018, where gametes were released between 18:00 and 19:30 h and collected from the water surface. Eggs and sperm were separated through a 120 μm sieve and washed three times using 0.2 μm filtered seawater (FSW).Eggs were cross fertilised by adding an equal concentration from a separate parent colony standardised to 1 x 106. A total of 17 crossed-colonies were used in this study for settlement and juvenile deployment to Davies Reef, and assessed for survival, growth and colour analysis. Further details can be found in the published article (Quigley et al., 2021).