Overcoming barriers to reef restoration : field-based method for approximate genotyping of Acropora cervicornis

Abstract

Reef restoration efforts aim to enhance resilience by safeguarding the genetic diversity of coral populations. This could be facilitated by genotyping methods that are relatively inexpensive, and field-based. A potential method for assessing coral genotypic diversity arises from self-recognition phenomena. Past studies have shown that contact between tissues from the same genet (isogeneic) will fuse whereas tissue from different genets (allogeneic) will result in rejection. However, the accuracy of this method has been questioned. Here, we revisit the grafting method as a tool to estimate genotypic diversity in a Caribbean coral restoration target, Acropora cervicornis.