Large-scale coral reef restoration could assist natural recovery in Seychelles, Indian Ocean
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Published source details
Montoya-Maya P.H., Smit K.P., Burt A.J. & Frias-Torres S. (2016) Large-scale coral reef restoration could assist natural recovery in Seychelles, Indian Ocean. Nature Conservation, 16, 1-17.
Published source details Montoya-Maya P.H., Smit K.P., Burt A.J. & Frias-Torres S. (2016) Large-scale coral reef restoration could assist natural recovery in Seychelles, Indian Ocean. Nature Conservation, 16, 1-17.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Transplant nursery-grown coral onto natural substrate Action Link |
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Transplant nursery-grown coral onto natural substrate
A before-and-after, site comparison study in 2012–2014 at a coral reef off Cousin Island, Seychelles (Montoya-Maya et al. 2016) found that transplanting fragments of nursery-grown stony coral Acropora and Pocillopora onto natural substrate led to a higher density of settled larvae (coral spat) than at healthy or degraded sites without transplants, and a higher number of juvenile corals than the degraded site. Twenty months after transplantation, density of all coral spat was higher at the transplantation site (124 spat/m2) than at nearby healthy (68 spat/m2) and degraded (78 spat/m2) sites without transplants. However, 24 months after transplanting, the transplantation site had lower density of all juveniles (3 juveniles/m2) than the healthy site (5 juveniles/m2) but higher than the degraded site (2 juveniles/m2). In November 2012–June 2014, a total of 24,431 nursery-grown coral colonies of seven Acropora and four Pocillopora species were transplanted at a 0.52 ha area of degraded reef (<3% coverage of corals in 2012, 16% in 2014). Transplantation methods not provided. A 0.12 ha healthy site (14% coverage in 2012, 35% in 2014) and a 0.13 ha degraded site (<3% coverage in both years), both without transplantations, were chosen for comparison. Sites were adjacent, 50 m apart from their neighbouring site. In January 2014, forty ceramic tiles were placed 8–10 m deep at each site, retrieved in July 2014 and inspected for coral spat of any species and returned to the sites. Juvenile corals were surveyed along six 10-m transects and in three randomly placed 1-m2 quadrats at each site before transplantation started, and at 12, 18 and 24 months after.
(Summarised by: Eleanor Bladon)
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