Anthropogenic stressors continue to threaten and diminish coral reefs worldwide, and natural recovery rates may not be fast enough to compete with these changes. Restoration efforts, then, are required to ensure reef ecosystem stability and active intervention has been proven to positively impact recovery. The gorgonian species Swiftia exserta and Diodogorgia nodulifera form part of mesophotic reef ecosystems that have experienced extensive injury due to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill This study aims to aid restoration efforts of mesophotic reefs by creating a field-based genotyping method with the potential to accelerate and broaden coral-focused restoration projects. Given the innate ability of many corals like S. exserta to rapidly recognize self vs non-self through physical contact, known as allorecognition, I designed a grafting experiment using D. nodulifera to understand its immune response to non-self . I predicted that isografts would fuse, while allografts would reject upon tissue contact points as was observed in S. exserta. The results, however, demonstrated a slow and minor immune response in D. nodulifera. Among the different genotypes, reactivity was either not observed, led to the indentation of one branch into the other, or was able to partially fuse across membranes for both isografts and allografts. Given that reaction times were protracted in D. nodulifera relative to S. exserta, I propose that: (a) a more thorough characterization of species-specific allorecognition responses are necessary before deploying this genotyping tool universally, and (b) that the degree of sensitivity for non-self recognition may widely vary in cnidarians based on life history patterns
