Producing coral offspring with cryopreserved sperm: A tool for coral reef restoration
Hagedorn, M.; Carter, V.L.; Henley, E.M.; van Oppen, M.J.H.; Hobbs, R.; Spindler, R.E. (2017). Producing coral offspring with cryopreserved sperm: A tool for coral reef restoration. NPG Scientific Reports 7(1): 9 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-14644-x
In: Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group). Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 2045-2322; e-ISSN 2045-2322, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Hagedorn, M.
- Carter, V.L.
- Henley, E.M.
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- van Oppen, M.J.H.
- Hobbs, R.
- Spindler, R.E.
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| Abstract |
Cryopreservation is an important conservation tool, which may help reef-building coral survive. However, scaling-up from small, laboratory-sized experiments to higher-throughput restoration is a major challenge. To be an effective restoration tool, the cryopreservation methods and husbandry to produce new offspring must be defined. This study examined small and larger-scale in vitro reproduction and settlement for Acropora tenuis and Acropora millepora and found that: 1) cryopreservation of coral sperm reduced sperm motility and fertilization success in half, thus fresh sperm, capable of becoming highly motile, is key; 2) the sperm-to-egg ratio and the concentration of the cryoprotectant treatments affected fertilization success in small- and larger-scale reproduction trials using cryopreserved sperm (p < 0.05); 3) cryopreservation did not affect settlement success, as larvae produced with fresh or cryopreserved sperm had the same settlement success (p > 0.05); and 4) the residence time of the sperm within the bank was not important as the fertilization success of sperm frozen for less than 1 month was similar to that frozen up to 2 years (p > 0.05). These results described the first settlement for coral larvae produced from cryopreserved sperm and established important ground-work principles for the use of cryopreserved coral sperm for future reef restoration efforts. |
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