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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Mar. Sci.

Sec. Coral Reef Research

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1650422

Status of Florida's pillar coral population: in situ declines and ex situ successes

Provisionally accepted
Karen  Lynn NeelyKaren Lynn Neely1*Rachel  M. MorganRachel M. Morgan2Keri  O'NeilKeri O'Neil2Nikkie  CoxNikkie Cox3David  GilliamDavid Gilliam1Michelle  MairMichelle Mair1Brian  Keith WalkerBrian Keith Walker1Amanda  ZummoAmanda Zummo1Cailin  HarrellCailin Harrell4Ananda  EllisAnanda Ellis4
  • 1Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, United States
  • 2The Florida Aquarium, Apollo Beach, FL, United States
  • 3Coral Restoration Foundation, Tavernier, United States
  • 4Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Tallahassee, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The population of the pillar coral, Dendrogyra cylindrus, in Florida was decimated from 2013-2020, primarily by the emergence of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). Monitoring of survivors from 2021 – early 2025 showed that the population underwent an additional 96% decline in live tissue, 78% loss in living colonies, and 55% loss of genotypes. SCTLD continued to be the primary cause of these losses. Though some surviving tissue isolates exhibited small amounts of growth, the population remains extremely small, with only an estimated 9.6 square meters of tissue remaining on 23 colonies (15 genotypes). Additionally, colonies are far too dispersed to successfully fertilize spawned gametes. The further declines in the population since 2020 highlight the instability of the remnant population, as well as the value of the pillar coral rescue program and ongoing propagation efforts. As of February 2025, eight different in situ and ex situ facilities were caring for rescued D. cylindrus. Experimental fragmentation at one in situ nursery identified variable, but continually improving, growth rates across multiple fragmentation events. Sexual propagation efforts at an ex situ nursery documented 105 different rescue fragments spawning across five years. The smallest fragment was 9 x 7 x 9 cm, establishing a potential "minimum colony size" for reproductive capacity for this species. From these spawning events, 82 juveniles were being raised ex situ in early 2025. Two of these sexually propagated juveniles spawned six years after settlement, thus establishing a potential minimum age for reproduction.

Keywords: SCTLD, Bleaching, Population decline, pillar coral, propagation, spawning

Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 03 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Neely, Morgan, O'Neil, Cox, Gilliam, Mair, Walker, Zummo, Harrell and Ellis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Karen Lynn Neely, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, United States

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