Study

Incorporating herbivorous sea urchins in ramet culture of staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis

  • Published source details Serafy J.E., Gillette P., Miller M.W., Lirman D. & Capo T.R. (2013) Incorporating herbivorous sea urchins in ramet culture of staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis. Endangered Species Research, 22, 183-189.

Actions

This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

Action Category

Cultivate corals in an ex-situ nursery

Action Link
Coral Conservation
  1. Cultivate corals in an ex-situ nursery

    A replicated, randomized, controlled study in 2006 at an ex-situ nursery in Florida, USA (Serafy et al. 2013) found that staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis cultivated on tiles with algae manually removed or grazed by variegated sea urchins Lytechinus variegatus had greater growth than those on undisturbed tiles. Average growth rates were greater for staghorn coral on tiles with algae manually removed (3.1 mm/day) or grazed by sea urchins (1.9 mm/day) than on those left undisturbed (-0.8 mm/day). In April 2006, circular pieces of staghorn coral (10 mm diameter) were attached to ceramic tiles (5 × 5 cm). Three tiles were added to each of nine containers (24 × 24 × 20 cm) within a fiberglass trough. Three containers were randomly assigned to each of three treatments: tile surfaces scraped every seven days using a razor blade; four variegated sea urchins (1-cm diameter) added; or tiles left undisturbed. Containers were replaced every seven days and corals randomly re-assigned to each treatment. Larval fish, shrimp and zooplankton were added to all containers weekly. Corals were measured on nine occasions over 210 days using photographs. Production costs for 100–2,000 × 50-cm2 coral ramets were $9,620 (2013 value) using sea urchins and $6,302–16,790 using manual scraping. All cost estimates included labour and facility rental and operating costs.

    (Summarised by: Anna Berthinussen)

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