Ulithi Atoll Montipora sp. WGS 2023

In Yap, State, Federated States of Micronesia, a reef-building coral in the genus Montipora, which is considered a weedy coral species, is rapidly colonizing disturbed (e.g. anthropogenic activities, typhoons, crown-of-thorns) lagoonal reef zones in the remote Ulithi Atoll in Micronesia. The spread of this particular Montipora species, which is outcompeting many functionally important reef-building corals, such as Pocillopora and Acropora that house a rich diversity of food fish, is of particular concern to the Ultihi community. High coverage (~30x) whole genome sequencing data was generated from 100 Montipora sp. across Ulithi Atoll (n=10/reef) to assess population structure and connectivity of the weedy species. Colonies collected from a set of 10 reefs, including pristine (diverse reef assemblage) and impacted (Montipora dominated) areas will provide the genetic basis for understanding connectivity between reefs. In addition, this approach will identify the genomic regions under selection and give genomic clues as to the relative success of this species in impacted versus pristine reef environments. This is of broad importance because Ulithi is likely to be a sentinel location to understand the future of coral reefs, where a few successful species are predicted to overtake the coral species that provide structural diversity and complexity to the reef.