Over the past three decades, coral reefs in the Caribbean have suffered massive declines due to cumulative factors such as hurricanes, disease outbreaks, bleaching, pollution, and overfishing. Many reefs in the Caribbean have lost their capacity to recove...

Both Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata have suffered dramatic declines throughout the entire Caribbean over the last few decades (Bruckner, 2002) which led to the inclusion of these species as "Threatened" under the Endangered Species Act in 2006. As a ...