Mote-ivational Science Lecture – Finding & Building Coral Resilience

Stony coral tissue loss disease was first identified off Miami in 2014. It has since spread through Florida's Coral Reef and much of the Caribbean, causing heavy losses across nearly half of the region's reef-building species. Dr. Sara Williams, a staff scientist in Mote's Coral Health and Disease Research Program, studies why some corals hold out. A recent study she led evaluated more than 150 genetically distinct individuals of one important reef-building species to map patterns of resistance, with the aim of propagating and replanting the hardiest. Her lecture at Mote SEA, part of the Mote-ivational Science Lectures, has a title that names both jobs: Finding & Building Coral Resilience.