78920dc0-436f-4053-a47f-5b04805038be urn:uuid eng UTF-8 nonGeographicDataset nonGeographicDataset 2025-11-17T07:31:26 creation ISO 19115 2016 Fertile Hybrids Could Aid Coral Adaptation 78920dc0-436f-4053-a47f-5b04805038be Fertile hybrids can enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of species under stress by increasing genetic diversity within populations, masking the effects of deleterious recessive alleles, and facilitating the introgression of beneficial genetic variants into parental species. However, many hybrids are infertile. We compared the fertility of aquarium-reared F1 hybrid and purebred corals of the species Acropora loripes and Acropora kenti and examined the viability of early life stages of second-generation (F2) hybrid and back-crossed planula larvae and recruits. The F1 hybrids spawned viable gametes and the F2 hybrid and back-crossed embryos developed into planula larvae and settled to become sessile coral recruits. The F1 hybrids had greater reproductive fitness than the F1 A. loripes purebred stock in an aquarium environment based on their probability of spawning and their fertilization success in crosses using their gametes. Interspecific coral hybrids can therefore be fertile and have high reproductive fitness, which could benefit the persistence of threatened coral reefs. {"type": "Point", "coordinates": [146.8168945144862, -18.321688289806634]} 146.8168945144862 146.8168945144862 -18.321688289806634 -18.321688289806634 GitHub Repository: Fertile-hybrids-could-aid-coral-adaptation documentDigital GitHub Repository: Fertile-hybrids-could-aid-coral-adaptation HTML Lamb, A. M., Peplow, L. M., Chan, W. Y., Crane, Z. J., Everson, G. A., Harrison, P. L., Hite, T. E., Hoffmann, A. A., Humphrey, C. A., Koukoumaftsis, L. P., & van Oppen, M. J. H. (2024). Fertile Hybrids Could Aid Coral Adaptation. Ecology and Evolution, 14(11), e70570. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70570 documentDigital Lamb, A. M., Peplow, L. M., Chan, W. Y., Crane, Z. J., Everson, G. A., Harrison, P. L., Hite, T. E., Hoffmann, A. A., Humphrey, C. A., Koukoumaftsis, L. P., & van Oppen, M. J. H. (2024). Fertile Hybrids Could Aid Coral Adaptation. Ecology and Evolution, 14(11), e70570. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70570 HTML AIMS Web Site documentDigital HTML AIMS Web Site documentDigital HTML AIMS Web Site documentDigital HTML AIMS Web Site documentDigital HTML Unnamed resource documentDigital License Graphic PNG Unnamed resource documentDigital HTML