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Tropical storms may create seeds for reef restoration Nathan Brouwer, mongabay.com May 16, 2009
Garrison and Ward conducted their study in Virgin Islands National Park, on the island of St. John. They took fragments of coral that had been naturally dislodged from healthy reefs during storms. With plastic zip-ties, they re-attached these fragments to other reefs that had lost corals. After five years, the results were promising: 25% of fragments had living coral colonies, and only 31% had died. The remainder has been knocked off by waves.
Garrison and Ward highlight the significant debate about reef restoration. Some biologists have argued that the extent of reef damage is too vast to make restoration worthwhile. In response, Garrison and Ward note the low cost of their approach: $21 per transplant, two-thirds of which is the salary of workers. Other methods of reef restoration include stabilization of reefs, removal of debris that can choke reefs, and the creation of rock piles to encourage the re-establishment of corals. Citation: Garrison, Virginia and Greg Ward. 2008. Storm-generated coral fragments – a viable source of transplants for reef rehabilitation. Biological Conservation 141: 3089-2100 (October). Locations in Virgin Islands National Park, St. John: Trunk Cay, Hawksnest Bay, Whistling Cay, Leinster Bay Species: Acropora palmata, A. cervicornis, Porites porites A. palmate at NOAA: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/invertebrates/elkhorncoral.htm Bibliography: Coral Restoration Studies Cited by Garrison and Ward (2008): Birkeland, C., 2004. Ratcheting down the coral reefs. BioScience 54, 1021–1027. Bowden-Kerby, A., 2001. Low-tech coral reef restoration methods modeled after natural fragmentation processes. Bulletin of Marine Science 69, 915–931. Briggs, J.C., 2005. Coral reefs: conserving the evolutionary sources. Biological Conservation 126, 297–305. Bruckner, A.W., Bruckner, R.J., 2001. Condition of restored Acropora palmata fragments off Mona Island, Puerto Rico, 2 years after Fortuna Reefer ship grounding. Coral Reefs 20, 235–243. Clark, S., Edwards, A.J., 1994. Use of artificial reef structures to rehabilitate reef flats degraded by coral mining in the Maldives. Bulletin of Marine Science 55, 724–744. Clark, S., Edwards, A.J., 1995. Coral transplantation as an aid to reef rehabilitation: evaluation of a case study in the Maldive Islands. Coral Reefs 14, 201–213. Edwards, A.J., Clark, S., 1998. Coral transplantation: a useful management tool or misguided meddling? Marine Pollution Bulletin 37, 474–487. Epstein, N., Bak, R.P.M., Rinkevich, B., 2003. Applying forest restoration principles to coral reef rehabilitation. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 13, 387–395. Fox, H.E., Mous, P.J., Pet, J.S., Muljad, A.H., Caldwell, R.L., 2005. Experimental assessment of coral reef rehabilitation following blast fishing. Conservation Biology 19, 98–107. Gardner, T.A., Cote, I.M., Gill, J.A., Grant, A.,Watkinson, A.R., 2003. Long-term region-wide declines in Caribbean corals. Science 301, 958–960. Harriott, V.J., Fisk, D.A., 1988. Coral transplantation as a reef management option. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Coral Reef Symposium, pp. 375–379. Highsmith, R.C., 1982. Reproduction by fragmentation in corals. Marine Ecology Progress Series 7, 207–226. Hudson, J.H., Robbin, D.M., Tilmant, J.T., Wheaton, J.W., 1989. Building a coral reef in SE Florida: combining technology with aesthetics. Bulletin of Marine Science 44, 1067. Jaap, W.C., 2000. Coral reef restoration. Ecological Engineering 15, 345–364. Lindahl, U., 2003. Coral reef rehabilitation through transplantation of staghorn corals: effects of artificial stabilization and mechanical damages. Coral Reefs 22, 217– 223. Maragos, J.E., 1974. Coral transplantation: a method to create, preserve, and manage coral reefs. Hawaii University Sea Grant Advanced Report, 35 p. Plucer-Rosario, G., Randall, R.H., 1987. Preservation of rare coral species by transplantation and examination of their recruitment and growth. Bulletin of Marine Science 41, 585– 593. Raymundo, L.J., 2001. Mediation of growth by conspecific neighbors and the effect of site in transplanted fragments of the coral Porites attenuata Nemenzo in the central Philippines. Coral Reefs 20, 263–272. Rinkevich, B., 2000. Steps toward the evaluation of coral reef restoration by using small branch fragments. Marine Biology 136, 807–812. Smith, L.D., Hughes, T.P., 1999. An experimental assessment of survival, re-attachment and fecundity of coral fragments. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 235, 147– 164. Soong, K., Chen, T.I., 2003. Coral transplantation: regeneration and growth of Acropora fragments in a nursery. Restoration Ecology 11, 62–71. Yap, H.T., 2000. The case for restoration of tropical coastal ecosystems. Ocean and Coastal Management 43, 841–851.
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