Abstract
Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) is an important reef building coral in the western Atlantic Ocean that has been facing major declines in recent decades due to ocean warming and acidification. Tissue properties such as chlorophyll a, lipid, tissue dry weight, and zooxanthellae concentration may influence the survivorship of various A. cervicornis genotypes exposed to thermal stress and high acidity. These parameters are not fully understood at the genotypic level, although they have been studied at the species level. Tissue properties and survivorship of genotypes BC1, SID, and SIE were examined at a temperature of 31 ºC and pCO2 of 1000 ppm to simulate predicted levels for the year 2100. No significant differences were observed in the tissue properties among genotypes, except in the chlorophyll a concentrations of BC1 and SIE. There was no correlation between survivorship and tissue properties, suggesting the properties had no influence on the significantly different survivorship of each genotype. In order to preserve coral reefs, future studies must examine other properties and their impact on survivorship.