I have spent the last two years trying to better get to know my new model coral, Orbicella faveolata. Thankfully, it already boasts a genome, myriad transcriptomes, and a ton of other data on its environmental physiology. I am now trying to figure out why some genotypes (particularly those of the inshore reefs of the Upper Florida Keys) are so resilient to environmental change. And even after all these years, I still catch myself saying/writing “Montastrea faveolata….”

Bleaching and disease: unfortunately, I expect to be posting more and more of these.