St. Thomas USVI

Transplanted Coral Reveals Local Histories Shape Bleaching Survival

Inshore and offshore coral from the same species tell very different stories under extreme heat. A year-long reciprocal transplant experiment with *Orbicella annularis* in St. Thomas found that where a coral came from mattered more for *when* it bleached than for how severely it suffered. Hassel Island fragments reached the bleaching threshold significantly later than others, suggesting local environmental history shapes survival timing. Growth and mortality depended on transplant location.