Kathryn Lohr

Why do you study coral?

I study staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) because it is an ecologically important species but has undergone an unprecedented decline in abundance over recent decades. Coral restoration provides a tool humans can use to assist in the recovery of this now-endangered species. I enjoy restoring staghorn coral because it allows me to positively and directly impact the species while researching ways to improve the overall health of coral reefs to ensure its survival into the future.

Describe a great moment in the field:

One of my best moments in the field happened while I was working in Grand Cayman. My team and I were sampling and mapping the locations of staghorn colonies throughout the island. We were scouting a shallow reef to find a colony to sample, and still hadn’t found anything after about a half hour of swimming. We were about to give up, but then I spotted one colony… and another… and another. It turns out we had stumbled upon a thicket – a mostly-continuous patch of staghorn coral – about 200 square meters in size. It was exhilarating to see so much healthy staghorn coral in one place, and encouraging to know that healthy patches could still persist despite the challenges they face.