Building heat-resilient Caribbean reefs: Integrating thermal thresholds and coral colonies selection in restoration

Caribbean reefs face increasingly frequent and intense bleaching events, which add to the numerous other severe threats impacting these ecosystems. Active restoration using thermotolerant coral colonies offers a potential strategy to alleviate these impacts; however, gaps remain in understanding thermotolerance thresholds and the underlying mechanisms, which currently limit effective colony selection. To address some of these gaps, this study involved two phases. The first phase focused on establishing species-specific thermal thresholds, providing critical data on interspecific variability in heat stress responses. In the second phase, a framework was developed to identify and prioritize thermotolerant colonies for restoration, guided by the thresholds established in the first phase. This framework responds to the need for standardized methods in coral restoration, where uncertainty around thermotolerance selection criteria has limited our capacity to enhance reef resilience.