Rising ocean temperatures are killing off coral reefs around the world, and Florida’s elkhorn coral have been hit particularly hard. However, elkhorn on the coast of Honduras seem to be thriving in the hotter water. So, a team at UM led by biologist Andrew Baker has set up a program to cross breed the heartier Caribbean coral with Florida elkhorn in hopes of producing more heat-resilient offspring.

The team brought numerous colonies of Caribbean elkhorn to a south Florida spawning facility in hopes they will spawn in late summer and can then be crossbred with Florida coral. If successful, they will seek permits to plant the new babies on Florida’s reef. “We can't just wait for that solution to be ready and then think ... What do we do to save these ecosystems?” says Baker. “We've got to work now, to have something left to save by the time we fix this bigger problem of climate change.”

• Andrew Baker