Study

Assessment of juvenile coral populations at two reef restoration sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary: Indicators of success?

  • Published source details Miller M.W. & Barimo J. (2001) Assessment of juvenile coral populations at two reef restoration sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary: Indicators of success?. Bulletin of Marine Science, 69, 395-405.

Actions

This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

Action Category

Use structures made from unnatural materials to restore / repair / create habitat for corals to encourage natural coral settlement

Action Link
Coral Conservation
  1. Use structures made from unnatural materials to restore / repair / create habitat for corals to encourage natural coral settlement

    A study in 1995–1998 in two artificial reefs in Florida, USA (Miller et al. 2001) found that three years after concrete blocks embedded with limerock were used to create habitat, stony corals, hydrocorals and octocorals had established on the unnatural substrates. At one site, three years after a ship grounding crater was filled with concrete blocks embedded with limerocks, seven types (species or genera) of coral were found at a density of 3 corals/m2. Porites astreoides was the most abundant (>15% of corals) at the site. Sixty percent of corals had settled on the embedded limerocks (25% of the structure), rather than the surrounding concrete (75%). At the other site, three years after a grounding crater was filled with limerock boulders, 11 types of coral were found, at a density of 4 corals/m2. Porites astreoides, Favia fragum and Agaricia sp. Were the most abundant, each constituting >15% of corals at the site. In October and November 1989, two ships grounded on reefs 6.5 km apart in the northern Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, leaving craters. In June–August 1995, at the 2.5 m-deep site, 40 concrete blocks embedded with limerocks were used to fill the crater and sealed with cement. At the other 10 m-deep site large limerock boulders were used to fill the crater. In summer 1998, three years after installation, juvenile coral recruits were mapped and measured on 17 concrete blocks and 17 limerock boulders. The proportion of corals on the embedded limerocks compared to surrounding concrete was measured on nine of the concrete blocks.

    (Summarised by: Ann Thornton)

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