Lab-Grown Hybrid Corals Planted in Florida to Beat Heat
Affiliate Disclosure
Hey fellow impactful ninja ?
You may have noticed that Impactful Ninja is all about providing helpful information to make a positive impact on the world and society. And that we love to link back to where we found all the information for each of our posts.
Most of these links are informational-based for you to check out their primary sources with one click.
But some of these links are so-called "affiliate links" to products that we recommend.
Why do we add these product links?
First and foremost, because we believe that they add value to you. For example, when we wrote a post about the environmental impact of long showers, we came across an EPA recommendation to use WaterSense showerheads. So we linked to where you can find them. Or, for many of our posts, we also link to our favorite books on that topic so that you can get a much more holistic overview than one single blog post could provide.
And when there is an affiliate program for these products, we sign up for it. For example, as Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.
What do these affiliate links mean for you?
First, and most importantly, we still only recommend products that we believe add value for you.
When you buy something through one of our affiliate links, we may earn a small commission - but at no additional costs to you.
And when you buy something through a link that is not an affiliate link, we won’t receive any commission but we’ll still be happy to have helped you.
What do these affiliate links mean for us?
When we find products that we believe add value to you and the seller has an affiliate program, we sign up for it.
When you buy something through one of our affiliate links, we may earn a small commission (at no extra costs to you).
And at this point in time, all money is reinvested in sharing the most helpful content with you. This includes all operating costs for running this site and the content creation itself.
What does this mean for me personally?
You may have noticed by the way Impactful Ninja is operated that money is not the driving factor behind it. It is a passion project of mine and I love to share helpful information with you to make a positive impact on the world and society. However, it's a project in that I invest a lot of time and also quite some money.
Eventually, my dream is to one day turn this passion project into my full-time job and provide even more helpful information. But that's still a long time to go.
Stay impactful,
At Impactful Ninja, we curate positive and impactful news for you. Add Impactful Ninja as a preferred source on Google or sign up for our free newsletter to get these delivered straight to your inbox—just like our expert roundup below!
📰 The quick summary: Scientists have outplanted lab-grown ‘Flonduran’ corals, a cross-breed of Florida and Honduran elkhorn corals, in Florida’s Dry Tortugas National Park for the first time, offering a potential path to restoring reefs wiped out by a 2023 marine heatwave.
📈 One key stat: Elkhorn corals are now considered functionally extinct in the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas after a 2023 marine heatwave killed nearly all of Florida’s remaining colonies, making this cross-breeding effort critical for the species’ survival.
💬 One key quote: “We have to incorporate as much of the genetic diversity in the species as possible to try to find the corals that will live through climate change,” said Keri O’Neil, senior scientist and director of the Coral Conservation Program at The Florida Aquarium.
1️⃣ The big picture: Florida’s elkhorn corals were effectively wiped out by an unprecedented marine heatwave in 2023, leaving the species functionally extinct in the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas. Scientists responded by cross-breeding Florida’s elkhorn corals with heat-resilient variants from a remarkably tough reef in Honduras, producing a new hybrid generation nicknamed ‘Flondurans.’ This spring, researchers outplanted nearly three dozen of these lab-grown corals alongside purely Florida-bred colonies in Dry Tortugas National Park, placing them side by side on reef sites to compare their performance. The effort marks the first time this experimental cross-breed has been introduced to the remote national park, about 70 miles from Key West. Scientists hope the Honduran genetic input, drawn from corals that thrive in warm and even polluted waters, can give the hybrid corals a better shot at surviving future heat events.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: Cross-breeding corals from different parts of the Caribbean opens a new avenue for helping threatened reef species adapt to warming oceans without waiting for natural evolution to catch up with climate change. Elkhorn corals are vital reef builders, creating complex structures that shelter fish and lobsters while protecting Florida’s coastlines from wave damage, so restoring them carries enormous ecological and economic value. Early signs from a 2024 outplanting near Key Biscayne suggest many of the Flonduran corals are still surviving, giving scientists cautious optimism heading into this larger trial. By testing multiple genetic lineages side by side, researchers can pinpoint which source populations perform best, making future restoration efforts smarter and more targeted. This work also strengthens international scientific collaboration, connecting US and Honduran researchers in a shared effort to safeguard coral reefs across the wider Caribbean.
3️⃣ What’s next: Scientists will monitor the newly outplanted corals throughout the summer to see how they cope with what is expected to be intense ocean heat. Researchers plan to outplant at least 300 more elkhorn colonies across Florida in 2025, with Dry Tortugas serving as just the starting point. If the Flondurans prove no more heat resistant than purely Florida-bred corals, the team will need to explore other genetic sources or breeding strategies.
Read the full story here: Inside Climate News – Scientists Outplant Experimental ‘Flonduran’ Corals in Florida’s Dry Tortugas National Park
