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The Winning Team: ecological genomics of the great star coral cryptic species complex — NSF Award to University of Texas at Austin

Florida coral reefs are declining dramatically since 1980’s, but there are still some coral species that are doing surprisingly well, such as the great star coral Montastrea cavernosa. According to recent analysis, this species is composed of six genetically distinct but otherwise identical-looking lineages, termed the

Award titleThe Winning Team: ecological genomics of the great star coral cryptic species complex
Award ID2433977
AwardeeUniversity of Texas at Austin
CityAUSTIN
StateTX
Amount obligated$852,591
Principal investigatorMikhail Matz
ProgramEvolutionary Processes, BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
Start date12/15/2024
AbstractFlorida coral reefs are declining dramatically since 1980’s, but there are still some coral species that are doing surprisingly well, such as the great star coral Montastrea cavernosa. According to recent analysis, this species is composed of six genetically distinct but otherwise identical-looking lineages, termed the “cryptic species”. The investigators hypothesize that the remarkable resilience of M. cavernosa comes both from ecological differentiation and ecological redundancy among its cons
SourceNSF Awards

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