Strategic R&D

Community level monitoring programs remain as an important source of primary data that help researchers elucidate important processes in complex systems. The two-year community monitoring effort conducted in Apo Reef Natural Park have shown the important role of large reef fishes in sustaining the recovery of the hard coral community after consecutive disturbances. The study …

Important reef fish functional groups in hard coral recovery Read More »

The Coastal Acidification Program generated information on coastal acidification as a contribution to justify the inclusion of coastal acidification to the National Climate Change Action Plan and to provide actual Philippine coastal acidification data to the Global Ocean Acidification – Observing Network (GOA-ON). Through this program, data from 63 sites across the country was generated …

Understanding coastal acidification effects to corals and marine organisms Read More »

This project studied the genetic structure and connectivity of natural populations of representative coral species with varying dispersal potentials based on life history traits, e.g. a broadcast spawner (Acropora digitifera) which likely disperses further distances compared to a brooder which has restricted larval dispersal (Heliopora coerulea), and a species with mixed modes of reproduction and …

Factors that influence coral population persistence to serve as a guide to resilience-based management and restoration practice Read More »

Genetic mechanisms that confer stress susceptibility or resilience to corals was determined using RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) technology. It was discovered that differences in the thermal tolerance of corals correlate with differences in the way that these species deploy their stress response tool kit when subjected to elevated temperature. This project is the first to capture the …

Coral responses to thermal stress Read More »

The physiological limits of 17 selected coral species in response to ocean acidification, ocean warming, and anthropogenic nutrient-coastal acidification stress were evaluated using manipulative experiments. As a result, a ranked list of coral stress tolerances was generated. It was found out that corals exhibited lower tolerance to thermal stress than ocean acidification. Moreover, corals exhibit …

Coral responses to environmental stress Read More »

The reproductive patterns of 18 coral species in Luzon, 13 coral species in Visayas and 11 coral species in Mindanao were assessed while the monthly record of reproductive status of 11 broadcast spawning coral species (i.e., Favites abdita, F. colemani, Acropora hyacinthus, A. valida, A. millepora, A. gemmifera, A. humilis, A. digitifera, A. latistella, A. …

Biology and reproductive patterns of corals Read More »