With strategic support from the Jacksonville, Florida-based Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium is continuing to push forward with its vital coral research and restoration initiative. As a “Designated Partner” in the Foundation’s new Environmental Engagement, Stewardship, & Solutions grant-making program, Mote will receive significant, two-year support of $250,000 from the Foundations to study resilient corals to be used in restoration efforts.

Corals worldwide, including those on the Florida Reef Tract, face massive threats from climate change, as rising ocean temperatures and decreasing pH levels alter the marine environment. Additionally, a devasting Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease along Florida’s reef is causing mass mortality among over twenty species of corals. With support from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Mote coral scientists will identify resilient coral genotypes and the mechanism behind their resiliency, and anticipate the effects of various climate scenarios on individual species of coral and entire reef ecosystems. These and other findings help to ensure that outplanted corals have the highest chances of surviving future environmental conditions. Mote is one of the only marine research organizations focusing simultaneously on all three major threats to coral species: coral disease, rising water temperature and changes in pH.

Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium