Coral Restoration Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025

Redescription in travel to UW tour around Celuisky, Uespen Key of Los Roques Atoll. Venezuelan Sea.

2025

En el mes de mayo de 2024 el autor Miguel Ángel Prieto, ha dirigido una excursión submarina con varios submarinistas venezolanos a la Cueva Josefa Camejo en la Isla Grande de los Monjes del Sur, en el Golfo de Venezuela. La cueva había sido visitada por el autor con el CESUSIBO desde el año 1972. En mayo de 2024 la visitamos nuevamente para fotografiar sus corales córneos. Muy en particular los Antipatarios que viven en las profundas pendientes y en el exterior de la Cueva Josefa Camejo.

2025

Muricea muricata es un coral blando. Su coloración va desde marrón pálido amarillento a marrón claro; pólipos blancos de unos 3 mm. Hábitat y comportamiento. Habitan generalmente en aisladas alfombras bajo la zona batida por las olas en el área superficial de los arrecifes de coral. Muricea muricata (Pallas, 1766) ; Animalia (Kingdom) ; Cnidaria (Phylum) ; Anthozoa. Muriceopsis arborea(Ventrillon Horbr, 1972) is a Colonial Anemone, modiffied in Laboratory as Invader Bentic Specie.

2025

Excursion Submarina a El Gran Roque situado al Noreste del Atolon, como era en el año 1983-1984. Se fue transformando lentamente en un receptor de aguas servidas que migran hacia el Sur. Nótese la acumulación en la laguna Sur del Gran... more

2025

Excursión Submarina en Playa Paraíso, situada al Este de Los Caracas en la Costa Continental Central de Venezuela, famosa por sus numerosos escollos rocosos y cuevas submarinas.

2025, Jurnal Teknologi

2025, Regional Studies in Marine Science

Interest in restoring staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis has grown following the widespread decline of this species in recent decades. To date, thousands of nursery-reared A. cervicornis have been outplanted to restore degraded reefs, but survivorship and growth among outplanted colonies can be spatially variable. In particular, data on distribution of remnant wild populations and outplant performance in varying reef zones is lacking. To address this gap, we conducted a study to characterize existing wild populations and assess performance of nursery-reared, outplanted A. cervicornis among three reef zones of varying depth at Little Cayman Island: the shallow back reef (0-3 m), the intermediate spur-andgroove reef (8-15 m), and the deep reef terrace (>15 m). Wild populations of A. cervicornis were present in each reef zone, and colony height and prevalence of predation by Stegastes spp. were highest in the intermediate zone. For outplanted A. cervicornis, survivorship differed among sites and was lowest for outplants in the deep zone during the 85-day observation period. Post-outplant growth and branching was lowest among outplants in the shallow zone due to high rates of colony breakage. Following the conclusion of the study, a mortality event occurred in which 90% of outplants at the shallow plots died during a period of elevated sea temperature. The information provided in this study suggests that intermediate spur-and-groove reefs are optimal for outplanting activities in Little Cayman using existing restoration methods. These data could be useful for coral restoration practitioners and government agencies in the Caribbean, particularly the Cayman Islands, which is actively expanding its coral nursery program. New strategies must be developed to improve restoration outcomes in shallow and deep zones.

2024, BIMP-EAGA Journal for Sustainable Tourism Development

Panglao Island is one of the tourist destin ations in the Philippines due to its white sand beaches, spectacular coral formations, beautiful reef fishes and crystal clear waters. Tourist arrival in 2012 noticeably decreased according to the dive shop operators and hotel and restaurant operators. Cor al reefs damaged due to human and natural factors. Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) implemented the Filipinnovation on Coral Reef Restora tion Program in collaboration with the University of San Carlos (USC), Cebu City and Bohol Island State University (BISU), Candijay Campus to manage the Pilot Technology Demonstration on Coral Reef Restoration in Panglao, Bohol. The ultimate goal of the project was to restore the degraded coral reefs through innovative means while maintaining partnerships between the local government units and private sectors which directly benefiting ...

2024, Practicing Anthropology

This article examines the complexities and challenges of implementing wastewater management on small islands in Belize, where rapid tourism growth has strained existing infrastructure. Through an interdisciplinary approach, it combines insights from anthropology and environmental engineering to create system dynamics models for wastewater treatment. The paper highlights the difficulties of integrating diverse stakeholder perspectives, technical limitations, and ecological goals in a single model. This work advances the literature on environmental management by demonstrating the tensions in interdisciplinary modeling, particularly in balancing scientific predictability with social and ecological variability.

2024, Gulf and Caribbean Research

2024

The Gulf Coast wetlands of southern Louisiana, the buffer zones between sea and civilization, are eroding before our very eyes. Energy for Ecology plans to use the energy provided by the natural coastal environment to restore its ecology, thereby protecting the area's population, industry, and civilization as a whole. Past wetland protection plans have used typical approaches to coastal erosion mitigation. Historically, protection plans tried to substitute the erosion of coastal areas by placing other objects, usually more land, dirt, or rocks directly between the coast and the water. These attempts have failed for a number of reasons: they underestimated the power of tropical storm events, they barely addressed one factor contributing to the problem, and they were generally piecemeal approaches to a problem of geological proportions. The combination of problematic factors in the geographical area is what allows for the protection plan proposed to be environmentally and economically sustainable. Tropical storm events, such as hurricanes, are typically considered destructive factors because of their own wind power; however they also cause storm surges which increase coastal erosion, thereby decreasing wetland buffer zones and exacerbating the problem. The energy in both the wind and storm surge caused by hurricanes is the source of a sustainable solution to the systemic problem in the Gulf Coast. Hurricane winds, ranging from 74 mph (65 knots) to more than 155 mph (136 knots), are an enormous potential source of energy. To reduce the risk of damage from the rapidly changing wind direction to the wind energy electricity generators, they should have vertical axis rotor and blades. Wave energy electricity generators can be attached to these structures in order to capture the energy of the waves and storm surge that occurs simultaneously, thus reducing coastal erosion. The combination of electricity generation technologies increases the economic return on the original investment, and captures the energy of the wind, waves and storm surge before it reaches urban or commercial areas. It is the electricity generating capability of these energy capturing devices that provides the protective capability of the plan. Running some of the electricity generated through a metal fence along the coast will cause calcification of the metal, thereby creating an artificial reef that will act as an underwater wall. This wall will prevent large waves from reaching the shore by causing them to crash at sea. Their energy will be captured by the previously mentioned wave energy electricity generators, some of which will be used to continue the calcification process. The reef wall will capture the soil being eroded, and can be positioned to channel the Mississippi back towards the coast, thus recapturing the silt and sediment it carries, effectively rebuilding the wetlands. This plan simply takes the previously destructive energy from the tropical storms in the area and turns it into constructive energy by transforming it into electricity, which is appropriately channeled. The wind and wave electricity generating structures would be interlinked, and connected to the electricity grid by cables that run the length of the reef wall on the floor of the silting area, continuously being buried. This not only keeps the cables at a lower temperature (higher efficiency), but also separated from the ecological processes occurring on the sea floor. This approach makes coastal protection economically profitable by producing a tradable commodity, and politically feasible by mitigating risks to the regions inhabitants while avoiding costs to the public. Waves, offshore winds, and coastal erosion are factors of all coastal areas; this systemic approach can be applied, with appropriate modifications, to many of them.

2024

The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology

2024

Normativa Ley de cultura 19/100% NS/NR 281 Planes Especiales de Protección del Patrimonio 28/100% 272 Proyectos de restauración 253/100% NS/NR 47 Difusión del Patrimonio Conoce los medios de difusión del patrimonio Si 14 / 100% NS/NR 286 No 286/100% NS/NR 14 CONCLUSIONES Herramienta efectiva para la difusión del patrimonio. Recoge la importancia del patrimonio tangible e intangible. Valida el patrimonio en sus características, singularidad y significado. Crea conciencia en la memoria de los que disfrutan el patrimonio, es decir los ciudadanos. Recuera la memoria de la ciudad.

2024, Scientific Reports

Marine infectious diseases are a leading cause of population declines globally due, in large part, to challenges in diagnosis and limited treatment options. Mitigating disease spread is particularly important for species targeted for conservation. In some systems, strategic arrangement of organisms in space can constrain disease outbreaks, however, this approach has not been used in marine restoration. Reef building corals have been particularly devastated by disease and continue to experience catastrophic population declines. We show that mixtures of genotypes (i.e., diversity) increased disease resistance in the critically endangered Acropora cervicornis, a species that is frequently targeted for restoration of degraded reefs in the broader Caribbean region. This finding suggests a more generalized relationship between diversity and disease and offers a viable strategy for mitigating the spread of infectious diseases in corals that likely applies to other foundation species target...

2024, Journal of environment and earth science

Presently climate change is a serious Problems on corals and their associated ecosystems that also affects the national and international income. The Present study emphasizes the impact of sea surface temperature on coral living, coral bleaching, coral growth and modelling for influential high temperature on corals as a significant biodiversity of tropical regions. Coral bleaching information, data of Sea Surface Temperature (SST), and coast watch utility software collected from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an important way of monitoring and modelling of coral responses to SST. These data represent that the higher range of sea surface temperature and anomaly is responsible for the greater change of the coral bleaching area and hotspot. Within the narrow sea surface temperature change coral can respond significantly. This model finds southern pacific is most vulnerable and attractive sites for coral bleaching. Eastern tropical Pacific and Caribbean co...

2024

This study employs a hedonic price model to investigate the relationship between package prices of one-day island tours and the different attributes/characteristics associated with them. observations of prices were obtained from 24 tour operators running in Nha Trang City. Using OLS regression method, the results show that the differences in prices among tours to a large degree can be explained by the differences in five various characteristics. Specifically, quality of lunch, the availability of VIP tour, the presence of seafood serving and diving activity have positive and significant effects on prices while the number of destinations has a negative significant effect on prices. With regard to the empirical estimates of attributes' relative importance, quality of lunch is at the head of the ranking list. The results of this study are expected to assist business managers as well as policy makers in drawing strategies for the improvement and investment.

2024, Frontiers in Marine Science

Corals, specifically the Atlantic staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, are under major threat as disturbance events such as storms and disease and predation outbreaks increase in frequency. Since its population declines due to a wide spread disease event in the early 1980s, limited long-term monitoring studies describing the impact of current threats and potential recovery have been completed. The aim of this study was to document the impacts of environmental (tropical storms, increased wind) and biological (disease and predation) threats on A. cervicornis to further understand its population dynamics and potential for recovery. Two high-density A. cervicornis patches (greater than 1 hectare each) were surveyed tri-annually (winter, summer, fall) from 2008-2016. A. cervicornis percent cover, canopy height, census of individuals, and prevalence and occurrence of disease, predation, and bleaching were evaluated within permanent 3.5 m radial plots (n = 27 and 31). Temporal variability was observed in mean percent live cover at both patches and showed an overall loss of tissue. Frequent disturbances such as tropical storms, hurricanes, and disease events, caused increased, prolonged, and widespread mortality. Periods void of disturbance allowed for recovery and growth. Prevalence and occurrence of disease and predation were highly variable between monitoring events. They were also found to be significantly higher on masses (individuals ≥ 1.5 m) than on colonies and during summer surveys (June-August). These data indicate that substantial length of time between major disturbance events is necessary for recovery and growth of this species. The implication of these results is that given the current rates of growth, recruitment, and storm frequency, natural species recovery is unlikely unless large scale issues like climate change and ocean warming, which affect the intensity and frequency of disease and predation, are addressed.

2024, Proceedings of the Oceanology International'99 Pacific Rim

The Philippine archipelago with its extensive coastlines and different ocean systems is famous for high diversity of marine life. However, the marine ecosystems are under threat due to increasing negative environmental pressures: rapid population increase, pollution through urban sewage discharges, unregulated coastal development and destructive fishing practices. This long term habitat destruction combined with overfishing resulted in a drastic decline of fish stocks and catches. In fact, still more than 90% of Filipinos are dependent on marine resources for their protein requirements.
A new low-cost techology of coral farming is being introduced in Olango Island, Cebu, Philippines to provide alternative livelihood for fisherfolks and to rehabilitate degraded coral reefs. Fragments of 48 scleractinian coral species were obtained by cutting no more than 50 % of the pre-cut donor corals with pliers and manually attached to various substrates: natural stones, concrete, limestones using cable ties, epoxy cement, hot glue and galvanized wire. Once firmly attached to the substrate, the fragments were placed in Coral Nursery Units (CNU) for a 6-8 weeks grow out phase. Subsequently fragments will be sold by the fisherfolks for reef rehabilitation. In general, variables such as species, growth form, initial fragment size and fixation technique significantly influence growth and survival rate. A fragment size below 8 cm is sufficient for massive, columnar and foliose growing species, while those branching and submassive species have significantly lower mortality rate when the fragment size exceeds 8 cm. Over a maximum period of 204 days the growth rate recorded ranged from 0.018 mm day-1 (= 0.65 cm yr1; Herpolitha limax) to 0.296 mm day-1 (= 10.8 cm yr-1 Acropora formosa). The costs of reef rehabilitation at 12.5% coral cover (20,000 fragments ha -1) is calculated at 3,600 US$ ha-1.
This new concept of coral farming with participation of fisherfolks provides alternative livelihood. The sustainable utilization of the natural coral resource triggers a shift from destructive fishing methods to a livelihood that enhances the coral ecosystem. Based on observations, it is expected that coral fanning will lower the pressure on the reefs, conserve the coral biodiversity, and raise resource ownership awareness among the fisherfolks.

2024, Sustainability

Restoration strategies for coral reefs are usually focused on the recovery of bio-physical characteristics. They seldom include an evaluation of the recovery of the socio-ecological and ecosystem services features of coral reef systems. This paper proposes a conceptual framework to address both the socio-ecological system features of coral reefs with the implementation of restoration activity for degraded coral reefs. Such a framework can lead to better societal outcomes from restoration activities while restoring bio-physical, social and ecosystem service features of such systems. We first developed a Socio Ecological System Analysis Framework, which combines the Ostrom Framework for analyzing socio-ecological systems and the Kittinger et al. human dimensions framework of coral reefs socio-ecological systems. We then constructed a Restoration of Coral Reef Framework, based on the most used and recent available coral reef restoration literature. These two frameworks were combined to present a Socio-Ecological Systems & Restoration Coral Reef Framework. These three frameworks can be used as a guide for managers, researchers and decision makers to analyze the needs of coral reef restoration in a way that addresses both socioeconomic and ecological objectives to analyze, design, implement and monitor reef restoration programs.

2024, Climate Change and Sea Surface Temperature: Modelling the Effects on Coral Bleaching

Presently climate change is a serious problem on corals and their associated ecosystems that also affects the
national and international income. The Present study emphasizes the impact of sea surface temperature on coral living,
coral bleaching, coral growth and modelling for influential high temperature on corals as a significant biodiversity of
tropical regions. Coral bleaching information, data of Sea Surface Temperature (SST), and coast watch utility software
collected from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an important way of monitoring and
modelling of coral responses to SST. These data represent that the higher range of sea surface temperature and
anomaly is responsible for the greater change of the coral bleaching area and hotspot. Within the narrow sea surface
temperature change coral can respond significantly. This model finds southern pacific is most vulnerable and attractive
sites for coral bleaching. Eastern tropical Pacific and Caribbean coral has been affected by El Nino and the anomaly of
sea surface temperature. We need to continue to develop the models for protecting the coral reefs to present natural
and anthropogenic climate change induced sea surface temperature causing the coral bleaching events.

2024

2024, Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

2024, Coral Reefs

Sexual propagation of corals specifically for reef rehabilitation remains largely experimental. In this study, we refined low technology culture and transplantation approaches and assessed the role of colony size and age, at time of transfer from nursery to reef, on subsequent survival. Larvae from Acropora millepora were reared from gametes and settled on engineered substrates, called coral plug-ins, that were designed to simplify transplantation to areas of degraded reef. Plug-ins, with laboratory spawned and settled coral recruits attached, were maintained in nurseries until they were at least 7 months old before being transplanted to replicate coral limestone outcrops within a marine protected area until they were 31 months old. Survival rates of transplanted corals that remained at the protected in situ nursery the longest were 3.9-5.6 times higher than corals transplanted to the reef earlier, demonstrating that an intermediate ocean nursery stage is critical in the sexual propagation of corals for reef rehabilitation. 3 years post-settlement, colonies were reproductively mature, making this one of few published studies to date to rear a broadcasting scleractinian from eggs to spawning adults. While our data show that it is technically feasible to transplant sexually propagated corals and rear them until maturity, producing a single 2.5year-old coral on the reef cost at least US$60. 'What if' scenarios indicate that the cost per transplantable coral could be reduced by almost 80 %, nevertheless, it is likely that the high cost per coral using sexual propagation methods would constrain delivery of new corals to relatively small scales in many countries with coral reefs.

2024, Coral Reefs

Efforts to restore coral reefs usually involve transplanting asexually propagated fast-growing corals. However, this approach can lead to outplanted populations with low genotypic diversity, composed of taxa susceptible to stressors such as marine heatwaves. Sexual coral propagation leads to greater genotypic diversity, and using slow-growing, stress-tolerant taxa may provide a longer-term return on restoration efforts due to higher outplant survival. However, there have been no reports to date detailing the full cycle of rearing stress-tolerant, slow-growing corals from eggs until sexual maturity. Here, we sexually propagated and transplanted two massive slow-growing coral species to examine long-term success as part of reef restoration efforts. Coral spat were settled on artificial substrates and reared in nurseries for approximately two years, before being outplanted and monitored for survivorship and growth for a further four years. More than half of initially settled substrates...

2023, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

The sliding and overturning of unconsolidated rubble by hydrodynamic forcing is expected to cause physical damage to settled coral recruits and asexual fragments by scouring and smothering. Yet, few empirical studies have tested the relationship between rubble mobilisation frequency and the survival and growth of these corals. Here, we tested the response of small coral fragments to varying levels of experimental scouring and smothering, proxies for rubble mobilisation impacts, on two coral species with distinct functional traits; Porites rus (robust, encrusting) and Pocillopora verrucosa (sensitive, branching). This study investigated: 1) how coral fragment survival was affected by inversion on rubble or sand substratum over ~2 w (i.e. smothering); and 2) how the survival, growth and tissue properties of fragments were affected by rubble being overturned (i.e. experiencing scouring or abrasion) at different frequencies over ~10 w. Smothering substratum had a profound influence on the probability of fragment survival. For both species, survival was < 2% after 5 d when inverted on sand, whereas nearly all survived when inverted on rubble. Following scouring, most P. rus fragments survived over the ~10-w period irrespective of scour frequency. However, P. verrucosa showed high mortality (45% loss) across all treatments, likely influenced by initial handling and fragmentation. For P. rus, increasing scour frequency caused sublethal effects of significantly reduced tissue growth and pigmentation, and increased partial mortality. These findings indicate that small fragments-and potentially recruits-are unlikely to successfully recruit in frequently-mobilised rubble beds regardless of their functional morphotype, but may persist in rubble beds in lower-energy environments. This provides valuable insight into the limitations on coral recovery in rubble beds, which could inform reef recovery programs considering substratum stabilisation. Combined with an understanding of a reef's hydrodynamic environment, this research can assist managers in prioritising damaged reefs for active interventions.

2023, PeerJ

Background. The architecturally important coral species Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata were historically common in the Caribbean, but have declined precipitously since the early 1980s. Substantial resources are currently being dedicated to coral gardening and the subsequent outplanting of asexually reproduced colonies of Acropora, activities that provide abundant biomass for both restoration efforts and for experimental studies to better understand the ecology of these critically endangered coral species. Methods. We characterized the bacterial and archaeal community composition of A. cervicornis corals in a Caribbean nursery to determine the heterogeneity of the microbiome within and among colonies. Samples were taken from three distinct locations (basal branch, intermediate branch, and branch tip) from colonies of three different coral genotypes. Results. Overall, microbial community composition was similar among colonies due to high relative abundances of the Rickettsiales genus MD3-55 (Candidatus Aquarickettsia) in nearly all samples. While microbial communities were not different among locations within the same colony, they were significantly different between coral genotypes. These findings suggest that sampling from any one location on a coral host is likely to provide a representative sample of the microbial community for the entire colony. Our results also suggest that subtle differences in microbiome composition may be influenced by the coral host, where different coral genotypes host slightly different microbiomes. Finally, this study provides baseline data for future studies seeking to understand the microbiome of nursery-reared A. cervicornis and its roles in coral health, adaptability, and resilience.

2023, Restoration Ecology

In recent decades, the Florida reef tract has lost over 95% of its coral cover. Although isolated coral assemblages persist, coral restoration programs are attempting to recover local coral populations. Listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Acropora cervicornis is the most widely targeted coral species for restoration in Florida. Yet strategies are still maturing to enhance the survival of nursery‐reared outplants of A. cervicornis colonies on natural reefs. This study examined the survival of 22,634 A. cervicornis colonies raised in nurseries along the Florida reef tract and outplanted to six reef habitats in seven geographical subregions between 2012 and 2018. A Cox proportional hazards regression was used within a Bayesian framework to examine the effects of seven variables: (1) coral‐colony size at outplanting, (2) coral‐colony attachment method, (3) genotypic diversity of outplanted A. cervicornis clusters, (4) reef habitat, (5) geographical subregion, (6) lati...

2023, Coral Reefs

There is currently very limited information around the spatial patterns of coral recruitment at mesophotic depths globally. This study investigated depth-related differences in coral recruitment patterns from shallow (* 3 m) to mesophotic depths (* 40 m) in the Indian Ocean. A new method is described for assessing coral recruitment, which allows for the improved study of recruitment patterns on deep reefs globally, as the method does not require SCUBA diving. This method allows for comparisons with other studies as there appears to be no influence on the density, composition, or settlement orientation of recruits relative to the most commonly used methods. Using this method, we investigated coral recruitment at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, finding the abundance of coral recruits varied significantly with depth and was highest at 25 m. The size of coral recruits changed significantly with depth, with larger recruits observed in shallower areas (3 and 8 m) than in deep areas. Distinct changes in settlement densities on tile surfaces occurred with increasing depth, with a shift to upper tile surfaces between 8 and 25 m, where the proportion of recruits increased from 10.72 to 87.69%, respectively. Overall counts of recruits were low, with minimal recruitment at the deepest sites and moderate but significant correlations between recruit numbers and hard coral cover were observed. This suggests that variations in larval supply, potentially coupled with larval behaviour and localscale influences, limit exchange of larvae between depths and locations. This is consistent with genetic studies that show limited exchange between shallow and mesophotic reefs and points to a limited potential for mesophotic reefs to act as a source of larvae for impacted shallow reefs.

2023, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

The rapid loss of reef-building corals owing to ocean warming is driving the development of interventions such as coral propagation and restoration, selective breeding and assisted gene flow. Many of these interventions target naturally heat-tolerant individuals to boost climate resilience, but the challenges of quickly and reliably quantifying heat tolerance and identifying thermotolerant individuals have hampered implementation. Here, we used coral bleaching automated stress systems to perform rapid, standardized heat tolerance assays on 229 colonies of Acropora cervicornis across six coral nurseries spanning Florida's Coral Reef, USA. Analysis of heat stress dose–response curves for each colony revealed a broad range in thermal tolerance among individuals (approx. 2.5°C range in F v /F m ED50), with highly reproducible rankings across independent tests ( r = 0.76). Most phenotypic variation occurred within nurseries rather than between them, pointing to a potentially dominant...

2023, PeerJ

Disease mortality has been a primary driver of population declines and the threatened status of the foundational Caribbean corals, Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis. There remain few tools to effectively manage coral disease. Substantial investment is flowing into in situ culture and population enhancement efforts, while disease takes a variable but sometimes high toll in restored populations. If genetic resistance to disease can be identified in these corals, it may be leveraged to improve resistance in restored populations and possibly lead to effective diagnostic tests and disease treatments. Using a standardized field protocol based on replicated direct-graft challenge assays, we quantified this important trait in cultured stocks from three field nurseries in the Florida Keys. Field tests of 12 genotypes of A. palmata and 31 genotypes of A. cervicornis revealed significant genotypic variation in disease susceptibility of both species measured both as risk of transmission (percent of exposed fragments that displayed tissue loss) and as the rate of tissue loss (cm 2 d-1) in fragments with elicited lesions. These assay results provide a measure of relative disease resistance that can be incorporated, along with consideration of other important traits such as growth and reproductive success, into restoration strategies to yield more resilient populations.

2023, PeerJ

Large scale ex situ propagation of coral colonies for reef restoration is a relatively new and developing field. One of the many advantages of utilizing ex situ coral nurseries is the ability to optimize water quality conditions for coral health and survival. Slight alterations in environmental parameters (light, pH, temperature etc.) can affect the health and grow-out time of cultured coral, ultimately influencing production rates. However, corals are also subjected to pests associated with culture facilities such as ciliates, cyanobacterial blooms, and infectious diseases. Therefore, adjusting environmental parameters to optimize coral growth for a shorter ex situ residency time will lead to greater survival and faster restoration. Studies indicate that some coral species demonstrate parabolic tissue growth in response to increasing sea-surface temperatures until the maximum temperature tolerance is reached, whereafter they bleach. To maximize coral growth in Mote Marine Laborator...

2023

The aquatic symbiont “Candidatus Aquarickettsia rohweri” infects a diversity of non-bilaterian metazoan phyla. In the threatened coral Acropora cervicornis, Aquarickettsia proliferates in response to increased nutrient exposure, resulting in suppressed growth and increased disease susceptibility and mortality. This study evaluated the extent, as well as the ecology and evolution of Aquarickettsia infecting the Caribbean corals: Ac. cervicornis and Ac. palmata and their hybrid (‘Ac. prolifera’). The bacterial parasite Aquarickettsia was found in all acroporids, with host and sampling location impacting infection magnitude. Phylogenomic and genome-wide single nucleotide variant analysis found Aquarickettsia clustering by region, not by coral taxon. Fixation analysis suggested within coral colonies, Aquarickettsia are genetically isolated to the extent that reinfection is unlikely. Relative to other Rickettsiales, Aquarickettsia is undergoing positive selection, with Florida population...

2023, Frontiers in Marine Science

Sedimentation is a critical threat to coral reefs worldwide. Major land use alteration at steep, highly erodible semi-arid islands accelerates the potential of soil erosion, runoff, and sedimentation stress to nearshore coral reefs during extreme rainfall events. The goal of this study was to assess spatio-temporal variation of sedimentation dynamics across nearshore coral reefs as a function of land use patterns, weather and oceanographic dynamics, to identify marine ecosystem conservation strategies. Sediment was collected at a distance gradient from shore at Bahia Tamarindo (BTA) and Punta Soldado (PSO) coral reefs at Culebra Island, Puerto Rico. Sediment texture and composition were analyzed by dry sieving and loss-on-ignition techniques, and were contrasted with environmental variables for the research period (February 2014 to April 2015). Rainfall and oceanographic data were analyzed to address their potential role on affecting sediment distribution with BEST BIO-ENV, RELATE correlation, and linear regression analysis. A significant difference in sedimentation rate was observed by time and distance from shore (PERMANOVA, p < 0.0100), mostly attributed to higher sediment exposure at reef zones closer to shore due to strong relationships with coastal runoff. Sedimentation rate positively correlated with strong rainfall events (Rho = 0.301, p = 0.0400) associated with storms and rainfall intensity exceeding 15 mm/h. At BTA, sediment deposited were mostly composed of sand, suggesting a potential influence of resuspension produced by waves and swells. In contrast, PSO sediments were mostly composed of silt-clay and terrigenous material, mainly attributed to a deforestation event that occurred at adjacent steep sub-watershed during the study period. Spatial and temporal variation of sedimentation pulses and terrigenous sediment input implies that coral reefs exposure to sediment stress is determined by local land use patterns, weather, and oceanographic dynamics. Comprehensive understanding of sediment dynamics and coastal ecosystem interconnectivity is fundamental to implement integrated and adaptive management strategies aimed to promote sustainable development at watershed and Otaño-Cruz et al. Sedimentation Dynamics Along Near-Shore Reefs island wide-scale to fully mitigate terrigenous sediment impact to marine ecosystems. Furthermore, decision-making processes and policy needs to address sedimentation stress in the context of future climate to reduce land-based threats and strengthen coral reef resilience.

2023, Frontiers in Marine Science

2023, Restoration Ecology

Coral reef restoration is an increasingly important part of tropical marine conservation. Information about what motivates coral reef restoration as well as its success and cost is not well understood but needed to inform restoration decisions. We systematically review and synthesise data from mostly scientific studies published in peer-reviewed and grey literature on the motivations for coral reef restoration, the variables measured, outcomes reported, the cost per hectare of the restoration project, the survival of restored corals, the duration of the project and its overall spatial extent depending on the restoration technique employed. The main motivation to restore coral reefs for the projects assessed was to further our ecological knowledge and improve restoration techniques, with coral growth, productivity and survival being the main variables measured. The median project This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and has undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as

2023, Diversity

2023, Gulf and Caribbean Research

2023

The study reports an exploratory qualitative study on career planning and development in hotels rated three to five stars in Malaysia. It explores what influences employee career planning and development in the hotel industry from the operation staff and supervisor perspectives. Specifically, it describes the factors that shape their personal career planning and development in the hotel industry. Data collection was carried out with selected hotel employees from the various departments in the three to five star-rated hotels in Malaysia from July 2015 to February 2016. A total of 151 employees were involved in data collection. Interviews and an open-ended profile accumulative technique survey were conducted with respondents as a data collection method at the respective hotels. Finding shows that majority of employee perceives positively in term of job and career opportunities and considers it quite promising due to the rapid growth of hotels. A majority of employees felt that there is a lack of proper career planning and career development provided by the hotel employers except few international chain hotels and five star rated hotels. Key factors emerged from the responses that shape and employee's career planning and development can be divided into seven themes: 1) nature of the job-interesting and fun but also challenging ; 2) job and career opportunities available in the hotel industry; 3) work environment and flexible work hours; 4) management practices; 5) opportunities for personal development and training programs to enhance their skill, knowledge and languages; 6) Individual attitude ; 7) hotel brand names and image. These findings benefit human resource practices to develop and strengthen employee's career planning and development. Having proper career planning and development in place may attract the right employees to remain in the hotel employment; and subsequently to reduce the staff turnover rate. It strongly suggests that human resource department should seriously look into employee's career path and development. It also suggest that in order to attract and retain competent staffs, a paradigm shift in human resource management and practices by giving more attention to formulate relevant career paths and development strategies is required.

2023, BIMP-EAGA Journal for Sustainable Tourism Development

2023

Ekosistem terumbu karang memiliki fungsi ekologi dan sosial ekonomi yang memberi manfaat barang dan jasa kepada manusia. Terumbu karang di Kawasan Segitiga Terumbu Karang (Indonesia, Filipina, Malaysia bagian timur, dan Timor Leste) terus... more

2023, Diversity

2023, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

2023, Diversity

Maldivian coral reefs have been experiencing significant degradation due to a combination
of global climate change and local anthropogenic pressures. To enforce the conservation of coral
reefs worldwide, coral restoration is becoming a popular tool to restore ecosystems actively. In
the Maldives, restoration interventions are performed only around touristic islands, where there
are economic resources available to support these projects. Unfortunately, on local islands, coral
restoration does not benefit from the same support and is rarely boosted. A challenging coral
restoration experiment has been performed, for the first time, on a local island of the Maldives
affected by intense human pressures that caused the degradation of its reefs. A total of 242 coral
fragments were collected from impacted colonies and transferred to the coral nursery of the island.
Survival and growth rates of the fragments were monitored for 12 months. After one year, a survival
rate of 70% was recorded. Although this rate might appear lower when compared to other restoration
experiences, it is very promising considering the origin of the fragments and the poor quality of
the environment where they have been transplanted. Some potential threats to the success of this
restoration have also been identified, i.e., water temperature anomaly, diseases, and parasites, the
latter being the leading causes of coral mortality. The procedure presented here is less expensive
compared to the typical relocation of entire coral colonies from donor-healthy reefs to degraded reefs,
thus providing an opportunity and a viable option for local islands to restore their reefs and preserve
local biodiversity.

2023, Frontiers in Marine Science

2023, Regional Studies in Marine Science

2023, Jurnal Teknologi

Over-exploitation on natural live rock promotes the degradation of ocean ecosystem. This concern has been raised since harvesting may reduce the density of marine ornamentals and degrade marine habitat quality. This study aims to develop artificial live rocks (ALR) that potentially to be used as one of the alternatives to reduce the overharvesting activity toward natural live rocks. The study was conducted at Bidong Island, Terengganu started from April to October 2014. There were 2 types of ALR used in this study; rough and smooth surfaces. A total of 64 pieces of ALR were deployed in April 2014 and retrieved in June, August and October 2014 respectively. Identification in terms of coral spat species and macrobenthic organisms was done after the each retrieval. Coral spat was identified based on the morphology of their columella, septa and corallite wall by using Dinolight Digital Camera. Four species of coral juveniles (Pocillopora damicornis, Stylophora pistillata, Seriatopora hystrix and Acropora millepora) were found attached on ALR surfaces. Whereby, there were 11 phyla of epibenthic organisms were found to attach on ALR which dominated by turf algae and red algae. Percentage coverage of epibenthic calculated using Coral Point Count with Excel extension (CPCe) shown ALR was dominated by turf algae after 2 months (69%) and 4 months (20%) of deployment respectively. Afterward, Red algae (31%) dominated after 6 months of deployment. There was significant difference between coral species and the surfaces (p<0.05). However, no significant difference between types of surfaces with sessile macrobenthic organisms (p>0.05). This finding showed that ALR has a potential to be upgraded as artificial reef towards marine habitat restoration.

2023, Frontiers in Marine Science

Growing fragments of corals in nurseries and outplanting them to supplement declining natural populations have gained significant traction worldwide. In the Caribbean, for example, this approach provides colonies of Acropora cervicornis with minimal impacts to existing wild colonies. Given the impetus to scale up production to augment limited natural recovery, managers and researchers should consider how the design and location of the nurseries affect the growth of different genotypes of corals and the effort required for maintenance. To elucidate such influences, we grew fragments of different genotypes (five varieties) on differing structures (trees and frames) at two depths (6–8 and 16–18 m). The sum of the lengths of all branches or total linear extensions (TLEs) and accumulation of biofouling were measured over 198 days from May to December 2016 to assess the growth of fragments and the effort required to maintain nurseries. TLEs for all fragments increased linearly throughout ...

2023, International Review of Environmental History

This article scrutinises environmental engineering activities in the Maldive Islands over the past four centuries, with a focus on the last six decades. It explores the historic trajectories of environmental transformations in the archipelago to demonstrate how various kinds of human modifications of marine and terrestrial landscapes reflect shifting priorities and preoccupations of the island society at given times. The analytical focus is on construction activities that involve coral and sand mining, dredging of harbours and shipping lanes, land reclamation and beach nourishment, as well as the creation of artificial islands and coral reefs. This paper proposes the notion of 'atoll engineering' to capture these various human-environment entanglements in a comprehensive analytical framework and to account for the particularities of inhabiting a coral island ecosystem. By mapping out historic continuities and discontinuities, this paper argues that scrutiny of atoll engineering displays alterations in islanders' understandings of and relationships with their thalassic environment and enables understanding of the influences of colonialism, modernisation and climate change on Maldivian society and culture.