FGBNMS Coral Resilience

Lead Investigator: Matt Warham, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, mwarham@marinesanctuary.org

Natural Resource Manager: Marissa Nuttall, FGBNMS; Kelly O’Connell, FGBNMS; Matt Warham, FGBNMS; Alicia Caporaso, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

Project Team: Michelle A. Johnston, FGBNMS, Michael Studivan, University of Miami Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies/NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory (AOML); Shay Viehman, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science; Joshua Voss, Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch; Dustin Kemp, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Xinping Hu, University of Texas Marine Science Institute

Collaborators: Dr. Ian Enochs, NOAA AOML; Jake Emmert; Moody Gardens Aquarium; Lindsey Savage, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Federal Program Officer/Point of Contact: Caitlin Young (caitlin.young@noaa.gov)

Award Amount: $3,499,996

Award Period: October 2025 – September 2030

Why it matters: Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) is a thriving coral reef habitat off the coast of Texas. While the coral communities in FGBNMS have been recognized as some of the healthiest in the tropical western Atlantic, they still are experiencing increased bleaching frequency, localized mortality events, and coral disease outbreaks. Current climate model projections suggest that the frequency of bleaching will continue to increase for tropical coral reefs. The goal of this project is to track and understand long-term trends of shallow and upper mesophotic coral habitats to inform and implement proactive climate resilience strategies. The project team aims to gain comprehensive insights into the physiological, molecular, and reproductive responses and tolerance of corals in FGBNMS to increased temperature and disease.

What the team is doing: The project team will deploy buoys to continuously monitor sea state, water temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen which will be used as a baseline to detect and predict future environmental changes. Large Area Imaging technologies will provide three-dimensional coral reef models to detect changes in coral condition, reef structure, biodiversity, and climate impacts. The project team plans to conduct field experiments to investigate coral recruitment and survivorship as well as measure genetics, physiology, and fecundity to test for coral resilience to environmental change. The team will also measure biomass and energy reserves to assess genotypic differences in resilience.

Expected outcome: The results of this study will be used to outline proactive management actions to preserve biodiversity in the present so it can serve as the foundation for any future recovery and restoration activities. These actions will be captured in a climate resilience strategy that will prepare the FGBNMS for an uncertain future. The results will also shape the day to day management of the FGBNMS by informing the next iteration of the FGBNMS’s management plan which will be updated in 2026.

Research Area: climate change, conservation planning, water quality, ecosystem restoration