Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis)

Mohamed bin Zayed Species project number 12054710

This is an individual project as part of my research towards my doctorate degree that will be conducted predominantly in Miami, FL and the Florida Reef Tract, FL, USA. The species of interest is the Scleractinian coral, Acropora cervicornis, which is critically endangered on reefs of the FL reef tract.  My research focuses on taking a metabolic and physiological approach to find markers for resilience to climate change stress in the critically endangered coral, Acropora cervicornis.  Specifically I am looking at tissue lipids and carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes to determine how energy is allocated under stress in this species in order to have a better understanding of how to conserve it.