Corals for Climate: Restoring Resilient Reefs

As a marine biologist working in coral conservation, sometimes it can be depressing when you go into the water. Everything that was once bright with color suddenly turns dull and lifeless. You continue monitoring the reef with the same love for the ocean but with less enthusiasm. However, the ocean never stops surprising you. Its unpredictability is what attracts me.

While monitoring the reef, we were lucky to see two recruits of Meandrina meandrites, the great maze coral that we thought had become locally extinct in Punta Cana after the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease outbreak in 2022. Seeing them recently in October gave us a glimmer of hope. It showed us the resilience of the reef, that with time, it will thrive.

Additionally, in September, we went out at night to monitor coral spawning of Acropora cervicornis in our underwater nursery. We've had this site with this species since 2004, but we saw a decline due to the bleaching events of 2023 and 2024. Last year, we experienced 60% mortality; the coral garden turned gray, and no spawning was observed. This year, we saw it come back to life.

During our night dives, we observed parrotfish sleeping in the branches and Caribbean king crabs rummaging around. After many nights of observation and no signals from the corals, we were lucky on the night of September 13, 2025. We observed five structures with Acropora cervicornis spawning, witnessing the nursery come alive. We collected coral gametes and went rushing to the lab. We started assisted sexual reproduction, reaching a fertilization rate of 74%, and obtained 24,470 embryos.

These coral spats are now back in the nursery, where we hope, they will continue to grow and contribute to greater genetic diversity and resilience in the reef. After waiting for years, the ocean has taught me that conservation takes patience and persistence, and in given time, nature will come back.