SUMMERLAND KEY — Scuba divers, snorkelers, fishermen and marine scientists around the world should take interest in the Keys’ newest bank.

Mote Marine Laboratory staff biologist David Lackland inspects one of several rehabilitated coral specimens that are ready to be released into the ocean. Special to the news-press No, it’s not a member of the FDIC that provides loans, mortgages and investment services; it doesn’t even have an ATM.

This is a coral genetics bank, recently established at Mote Marine Laboratory’s tropical research center, where staff biologist Dave Lackland grows stony corals — coral species that build reefs.

“A lot of researchers look at the problems with coral; I’m leaving that to other folks,” Lackland said. “My goal is to create a genetics bank for the future, to hold corals and let them grow and thrive for other researchers, for experiments, for stock enhancement, whatever is needed to replenish these animals.”

Coral reefs worldwide are in terrible shape. Corals are being killed by boat groundings, divers, diseases, algal blooms, sponges that engulf whole coral heads, even global warming.

State scientists have documented a dramatic loss of coral cover in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, where reef-related activities pump almost $700 million a year into the local economy.

Coral cover is the percent of a reef that actually has coral growing on it. A healthy reef has 30 percent to 40 percent coral cover; in 1996, scientists reported 10.6 percent in the Keys. By 1999, coral cover had dropped to 6.4 percent.

To grow reef-building corals, Lackland must have living coral fragments, but Keys coral is protected, so he can’t just go out and break off what he needs.

One source of coral stock is bits broken off when boats run into the reef.

“It’s sit and wait,” Lackland said. “I certainly don’t want anybody to hit the reef, but if somebody does, in a selfish way, I want the fragments.

“It’s frightening how many species I’ve already collected from groundings. In reality, Mote could have a library of every shallow-water species out there. That’s my genetic material, little fragments that otherwise would be laid to waste.”

Lackland recently got a windfall of 25 coral species from a dredging project near the Key West Naval Air Station.

“We allowed Dave to collect small fragments from that project because we knew they were going to be lost anyway,” said Anne McCarthy, the sanctuary’s Lower Keys regional manager.

“What Dave is doing can be very important to the sanctuary. We’re losing so much coral through a lot of reasons, and we don’t have a lot of coral banked. So it’s critical to have somebody salvaging these fragments of opportunity and growing them up so we can hopefully reintroduce them.”

Although Lackland is growing many coral species, his main targets are elkhorn and staghorn corals.

“They physically lay the foundation for most of the reef,” he said. “They create the physical ecosystem. They’re responsible for building the reefs we now go out to visit and dive. They’re the skeleton of that reef.

“And I’ve never seen such drastic decline of any other species. They’re dying faster than any other corals.”

Sanctuary officials are particularly interested in Lackland’s work with staghorn and elkhorn corals, McCarthy said.

“Different folks have tried to keep them in captivity but weren’t successful,” she said. “Dave feels he’ll be able to grow them. Those used to be the dominant species, but now they’re only a small percentage, so whatever we can do to help them is critically important.

“If he’s able to get fragments into the lab and grow them up so we can put them back out in the environment, man, we’re really on the right road.”

Most of Lackland’s corals are growing outside in shallow tanks.

He has a handful of staghorn coral fragments under more controlled conditions inside a coral culture laboratory.

Under normal conditions, staghorn coral grows at a rate of 1 percent a day; by adding an ionic calcium compound and magnesium to the water and keeping the 400-watt metal halide lights over each tank on longer than normal daylight, Lackland has bumped growth up to 1.5 percent.

Of course, growing coral of any species is somewhat more complicated than putting a petunia in a flower pot.

Each fragment must be fixed to a hard surface with an adhesive.

“I’m constantly experimenting with different adhesives and substrates,” Lackland said. “I find Crazy Glue works best. It smells like the most toxic stuff in the world, but it’s absolutely nontoxic. For the substrate I use PVC filled with plaster.

“I’ve put corals on action figures, thinking, what would be cool to grow coral on? Once I grew coral on a little plastic spider monkey skull as an art project.”

Lackland became a coral junkie while snorkeling the reefs of St. Croix when he was 10. He has kept personal reef tanks for years and is now able to put his passion into practice in the form of the coral genetics bank.

“People probably think it’s really boring, but, oh, God, not to me,” Lackland said. “It’s the most exciting thing in the world. It’s crazy. I can’t keep a girlfriend. The rest of my life can fall apart, but my corals keep growing.

“What I’m doing is kind of neat: I’ll be able to see the direct effect on the reef. When somebody calls you and says, ‘Will you give money to save the ostriches?’ you write a check and feel you’ve done something for ostriches. But you don’t see it. I get to save coral fragments, play coral doctor, and put my babies back out there. If you really want to help the environment, I can’t think of a better job.”

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