| Summary: | As coral reefs continue to experience decline from human-related stressors, the countless species that depend upon them for food and shelter are likely to follow, constituting a loss of one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. Though laboratory studies of corals remain difficult, promising model organisms may hold the key to understanding and combating the pressures facing them. Notably, hardier species of sea anemones parallel the life cycles of colonial corals, and an understanding of the stabilizing factors underlying these developmental strategies may assist in research into coral resilience. In this experiment, I use the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana to study the growth cycle of asexually-reproducing cnidarians, initially predicting that larger anemones would produce larger offspring on average. These small anemones reproduce via a process known as “pedal laceration,” wherein pieces of their pedal disks are left behind as they move, growing into new clonal individuals. A wide size range of adult anemones was chosen and subsequently lacerates were excised by-hand. I compared the original sizes of the parents with the rate at which these lacerates developed and the final size they reached. The success of lacerate offspring was found to be largely unrelated to parental fitness or size and heavily dependent on initial lacerate sizes. The larger implications of this study will hopefully contribute to consensus understanding of cnidarian asexual reproduction and growth. Keywords: Symbiosis, Ocean Acidification, Cnidaria, Exaiptasia diaphana, Life Cycle, Pedal Laceration, Asexual Reproduction, Development.
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