Experimental systems and instrumentation added to existing propagation facility to facilitate research on captive coral spawning, in vitro fertilization, symbiont manipulation, larval rearing and assisted evolution methodologies.

Raceways retrofitted with thermal resilience exerimental systems.

Raceways retrofitted with coral larval settlement and rearing systems.

Laboratory was outfit with lighting and temperature control systems for culturing of Symbiodiniaceae for larval infection experiments.

Construction of field spawning nets.

Field spawning nets completed.

Facility is outfitted with red lighting for captive spawning ops.

A NOAA/NMSF grant awarded to Prof. Robin Smith (PI), “Large-Scale USVI Restoration using Selective-Breeding and Assisted Evolution Technologies, " funds the design and construction of two 20-foot larval experimentation containers. The systems are engineered for complex multi-factorial experiments to test assisted evolution processes on captively bred coral larvae for restoration.

Schematic and specifications of the larval rack systems. Each container system will have the capcity to maintain 5,000 coral larvae, with single settled larva isolated in independent flow-through chambers. SCADA is designed to manipulate and control Temp, pH, Alkalinity, pCO2, and feeding within each isolation chamber.

Containers donated by Crowley Shipping arrive on site.

Prototype rack and drip emitter systems built and tested successfully.

Final construction and commissioning in progress.