“One general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.”  ― Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

Coral reefs of the world over are threatened, some more than others. Ph. D. candidate Courtney Klepac is searching for corals in American Samoa that may weather the changing climate. Courtney’s ultimate goal is figuring out which local coral species show the most promise of survival, and therefore need the most protection or can be used towards restoration of degraded reefs. She will accomplish this by assessing the ability of corals to acclimatize to more thermally variable reef environments; those projected to become the norm under climate change predictions.

She is investigating the plastic response to heat stress: the claim that corals that come from fluctuating, warmer environments are more suited to heat stress, as well as the possibility and time scale of such “super corals” from the fluctuating environment losing their heat tolerance when placed in a milder environment. Additionally, she is interested if corals from milder reef environments can enhance their phenotype to match that of corals from the warmer backreef.