Reef connectivity has a strong influence on community-level biomass, population persistence, resilience, and species diversity. Cuba’s vast and relatively healthy coral reefs have the potential to provide new recruits of reef building corals to near and far locations in the Caribbean, transported by ocean currents, but to date no study on the population genetic structure of Cuba’s reef building corals has been conducted comprehensively to understand linkages to the surrounding region and the scale of marine larval dispersal. Detailed knowledge is also needed on the role that genetic diversity can play in the survivorship of remaining coral populations and the re-establishment of depleted populations.
Caribbean coral reef communities have lost nearly 80% of coral cover since the early 1980s. Reduced populations may lose uniquely adapted individuals and rare alleles, each important for adaptation and potential recovery. To repopulate reefs and increase population densities, greater knowledge on the genetic structure of reef-building corals and their connectivity to nearby regions is needed so management strategies can be tailored to the appropriate areas and spatial scales.
CariMar is collaborating with the University of Miami, University of Havana, Universidad Veracruzana, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México-Campus Sisal to better understand population genomics of reef corals in southern Cuba and their connectivity to corals in the Yucatan Channel, Gulf of Mexico, and broader Caribbean region. The results of this study will help promote regional collaboration of coral reef research and conservation among scientists from Mexico, US, and Cuba.
Caribbean coral reef communities have lost nearly 80% of coral cover since the early 1980s. Reduced populations may lose uniquely adapted individuals and rare alleles, each important for adaptation and potential recovery. To repopulate reefs and increase population densities, greater knowledge on the genetic structure of reef-building corals and their connectivity to nearby regions is needed so management strategies can be tailored to the appropriate areas and spatial scales.
CariMar is collaborating with the University of Miami, University of Havana, Universidad Veracruzana, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México-Campus Sisal to better understand population genomics of reef corals in southern Cuba and their connectivity to corals in the Yucatan Channel, Gulf of Mexico, and broader Caribbean region. The results of this study will help promote regional collaboration of coral reef research and conservation among scientists from Mexico, US, and Cuba.