Selective breeding and larval heat tolerance

Seeding reefs with heat tolerant corals could enhance reef resilience under climate change. Selective breeding is an intervention that might be used to generate heat tolerant corals for reef restoration. We estimated thermal thresholds for gravid colonies of two Acropora species from Moore Reef and Davies Reef on the Great Barrier Reef using the Sea Simulator In A Box experimental system on AIMS research vessel, the Cape Ferguson. Rankings of photochemical efficiency thermal thresholds were used to select broodstock and selectively breed offspring in the National Sea Simulator. We then tested the heat tolerance of the offspring using the laboratory facilities at AIMS. The collected data was analysed to evaluate: 1) whether a rapid heat stress assay can be used to identify heritable heat tolerance in coral populations and 2) whether there is a trade-off between coral heat tolerance and fecundity that could impact the efficacy of selective breeding.