Towards the development of novel genomic techniques for identifying thermally tolerant Acropora palmata

The region-wide decline of Acropora palmata has significant implications for the structure and function of Caribbean reefs as this is the only species capable of building the reef-crest habitat zone. Nursery bred coral can be used to restore these habitats, but the ultimate success of these efforts depends on whether there is sufficient genetic diversity and thermal resilience in restored populations to survive and reproduce in a rapidly changing climate. This project aims to quantify thermal tolerance of 150 sexually produced A. palmata genets and identify genomic correlates of thermal tolerance traits with the overarching goal of improving techniques to support future interventions through identifying stress tolerant coral colonies and genes. This archive contains raw sequence data for samples used to create the haplotype reference panel and shallow sequenced genomes for experimental coral genets.