Transplantation of coral fragments

PLOS ONE, 2021

Coral transplantation has been used in reef restoration for several decades, but information on the type of projects, their scope, scale, and success is mostly limited to published scientific studies and technical reports. Many practitioners do not have the capacity to share their progress in peer-reviewed literature, yet likely have a wealth of information to share on how to improve the efficiency of transplantation efforts. In order to incorporate non-published data on coral transplantation projects and gain an overview of the general features of these projects, we conducted an initial systematic online survey of projects run by various practitioners. Surveyed projects (n = 50) covered most of the tropical belt and ranged in size from a few hundred transplanted corals to >5000 transplants. The most frequent source of coral fragments were corals already broken from some previous impact (“corals of opportunity”; 58% of projects), followed by fragments stored in different types of...

Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity, 2013

Ammar MSA,El-Gammal F, Nassar M, Belal A, Farag W, El-Mesiry G, El-Haddad K, Orabi A, Abdelreheem A, Shaaban A. 2013. Review: Current trends in coral transplantation – an approach to preserve biodiversity. Biodiversitas 14: 43-53. The increasing rates of coral mortality associated with the rise in stress factors and the lack of adequate recovery worldwide have urged recent calls for actions by the scientific, conservation, and reef management communities. This work reviews the current trends in coral transplantation. Transplantation of coral colonies or fragments, whether from aqua-, mariculture or harvesting from a healthy colony, has been the most frequently recommended action for increasing coral abundance on damaged or degraded reefs and for conserving listed or “at-risk” species. Phytoplanktons are important for providing transplanted corals with complex organic compounds through photosynthesis. Artificial surfaces like concrete blocks, wrecks or other purpose-desi...

Coral Reefs, 1995

As part of a study of reef rehabilitation, whole coral colonies (primarily Acropora, Pocillopora, Porites, Favia and Favites) were transplanted and cemented in place onto three approximately 20 m 2 areas of Armorflex concrete mats on a 0.8-1.5 m deep reef-flat in the Maldives which had been severely degraded by coral mining. Growth, in situ mortality, and losses from mats due to wave action of a total of 530 transplants were monitored over 28 months. Natural recruitment of corals to both the transplanted Armorflex areas and concrete mats without transplants was also studied. Overall survivorship of corals 28 months after transplantation was 51%. Most losses of transplants due to wave action occurred during the first 7 months when 25% were lost, with only a further 5% of colonies being lost subsequently. Within 16 months most colonies had accreted naturally to the concrete mats. Thirty-two percent of transplants which remained attached died with Acropora hyacinthus and Pocillopora verrucosa having the highest mortality rates (approx. 50% mortality over two years) and Porites lobata and P. lutea the lowest (2.8 and 8.1% mortality respectively over two years). Growth rates were very variable with a quarter to a third of transplants showing negative growth during each inter-survey period. Acropora hyacinthus, A, cytherea and A. divaricata transplants had the highest growth rates (colony mean linear radial extension 4.15-5.81 cm y-l), followed by Pocillopora verrucosa (mean 2.51 cm y-l). Faviids and poritids had lowest growth rates. Favia and Favites showed the poorest response to transplantation whilst A cropora divaricata, which combined a high growth rate with relatively low mortality, appeared particularly amenable to transplantation. Natural recruitment did not differ significantly between concrete mats with and without transplanted corals. 'Visible' recruits were first recorded 10 months after emplacement of the mats and were predominantly Acropora and Pocillopora. On near vertical surfaces their density was almost 18 m -2. Recruits grew fast Correspondence to: A.J. Edwards producing many 20-30 cm diameter colonies on the mats within 3.5 years. Growth and survival of transplants are compared with results of transplantation studies in other locations. We conclude: (1) species transplanted should be selected with care as certain species are significantly more amenable than others to transplantation, (2) the choice of whether fragments or whole colonies are transplanted may profoundly influence survival, (3) considerable loss of transplants is likely from higher energy sites whatever method of attachment, (4) transplantation should, in general, be undertaken only if recovery following natural recruitment is unlikely.

Marine Pollution Bulletin, 1999

The primary objectives of coral transplantation are to improve reef`quality' in terms of live coral cover, biodiversity and topographic complexity. Stated reasons for transplanting corals have been to: (1) accelerate reef recovery after ship groundings, (2) replace corals killed by sewage, thermal euents or other pollutants, (3) save coral communities or locally rare species threatened by pollution, land reclamation or pier construction, (4) accelerate recovery of reefs after damage by Crown-ofthorns star®sh or red tides, (5) aid recovery of reefs following dynamite ®shing or coral quarrying, (6) mitigate damage caused by tourists engaged in water-based recreational activities, and (7) enhance the attractiveness of underwater habitat in tourism areas. Whether coral transplantation is likely to be eective from a biological standpoint depends on, among other factors, the water quality, exposure, and degree of substrate consolidation of the receiving area. Whether it is necessary (apart from cases related to reason 3 above), depends primarily on whether the receiving area is failing to recruit naturally. The potential bene®ts and dis-bene®ts of coral transplantation are examined in the light of the results of research on both coral transplantation and recruitment with particular reference to a 4.5 year study in the Maldives. We suggest that in general, unless receiving areas are failing to recruit juvenile corals, natural recovery processes are likely to be sucient in the medium to long term and that transplantation should be viewed as a tool of last resort. We argue that there has been too much focus on transplanting fast-growing branching corals, which in general naturally recruit well but tend to survive transplantation and re-location relatively poorly, to create short-term increases in live coral cover, at the expense of slow-growing massive corals, which generally survive transplantation well but often recruit slowly. In those cases where transplantation is justi®ed, we advocate that a reversed stance, which focuses on early addition of slowly recruiting massive species to the recovering community, rather than a short-term and sometimes short-lived increase in coral cover, may be more appropriate in many cases. Ó 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Site Reason for transplanting corals References Philippines, Indonesia Aid reef recovery following dynamite ®shing Auberson (1982), Yap et al. (1990, 1992), Yap and Gomez (1984), Fox et al. (1999) Guam Replace corals killed by thermal euent Birkeland et al. (1979) Guam Save rare coral species threatened by pollution Plucer-Rosario and Randall (1987) Singapore, Cozumel Island, Florida Relocate coral colonies (and other reef organisms) threatened by reclamation, pier construction, outfall repair, respectively Newman and Chuan (1994), Muñoz-Chagin (1997), Dodge et al. (1999) Hawaii Reintroduce species into an area previously polluted by sewage, dredging, etc. Maragos (1974), Maragos et al. (1985) Florida, Cayman Islands Accelerate reef recovery following ship groundings Gittings et al. (1988), Hudson and Diaz (1988), Miller and Barimo (1999), Jaap (1999) Gulf of Aqaba Enhance attractiveness of tourism area Bouchon et al. (1981) Eilat Rehabilitate tourist damaged reefs, create arti®cial reefs to relieve diving pressure

Galaxea, Journal of Coral Reef Studies, 2013

The survival rates of the staghorn coral Acro pora muricata and the branching coral Pocillopora dami cornis were examined using 6 transplantation techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of direct transplantation of coral fragments vs. fragments grown in nurseries before transplantation. (n＝150 fragments per technique). The study was conducted at Sungwan beach, Koh Laan, Pat taya City, Chonburi Province for a period of 33 weeks (September 2009 to May 2010). In A. muricata, the high est survival rate (82.0%) was shown by those fragments which were nursed on the midwater nursery before trans planted on iron plate, followed by those which were di rectly transplanted on iron plate (survival rate of 64.7%), and those nursed on iron fish home nursery before trans planted on iron plate, (survival rate of 59.3%). In P. damicornis, the highest survival rate (72.7%) was shown by those fragments which were nursed on the iron fish home nursery before transplanted on iron plate, followed by those which were nursed on midwater nursery before transplanted on coral ball (survival rate of 64%), and those directly transplanted on coral ball, (survival rate of 46.7%). According to survival rate, budget, time frame and manpower, the most effective method was direct transplantation on iron plate.