Stony corals are promising transplant candidates for the ecological engineering of artificial coastal defences such as seawalls as they attract and host numerous other organisms. However, seawalls are exposed to a wide range of environmental stressors associated with periods of emersion during low tide such as desiccation and changes in salinity, temperature, and solar irradiance. All of these variables have known deleterious effects on coral physiology, growth, and fitness. In this study, we performed parallel experiments (in situ and ex situ) to examine among-genotype responses of Pocillopora acuta to emersion by quantifying growth, photophysiological metrics (F_v/F_m, non-photochemical quenching [NPQ], endosymbiont density, and chlorophyll [chl] a concentration) and survival, following different emersion periods. Results showed that coral fragments emersed for longer durations (> 2 h) exhibited reduced growth and survival. Endosymbiont density and NPQ, but not F_v/F_m and chl a concentration, varied significantly among genotypes across different durations of emersion. Overall, the ability of P. acuta to tolerate emersion for up to two hours indicates it has potential to serve as a ‘starter species’ for transplantation efforts on seawalls. Further, careful characterisation and selection of genotypes with a high capacity to withstand emersion can help maximise the efficacy of ecological engineering using coral transplants.

石质珊瑚是有希望的移植候选物，可用于人工海防等生态工程，例如海堤，因为它们吸引并容纳了许多其他生物。但是，海堤在退潮期间会暴露于与潮水时期相关的各种环境压力，例如干燥以及盐度，温度和太阳辐照度的变化。所有这些变量对珊瑚的生理，生长和健康都有有害的影响。在这项研究中，我们进行平行实验（原位和易地）检查中基因型反应鹿角蚧通过量化生长，photophysiological度量来再现（F _v / F_米，非光化学猝灭[NPQ]，内共生体密度和叶绿素[chl] a浓度）和存活期，在不同的萌芽期之后。结果表明，出现较长时间（> 2小时）的珊瑚碎片显示出减少的生长和存活。内胚突密度和NPQ，但F _v / F _m和chl a浓度没有变化，在不同的出现持续时间中，基因型之间存在显着差异。总体而言，P。acuta的能力忍受最多两个小时的出没表明它有潜力作为海堤移植工作的“入门物种”。此外，仔细表征和选择具有高抗发芽能力的基因型可以帮助最大化利用珊瑚移植进行生态工程的功效。