New Seeding Approach Reduces Costs and Time to Outplant Sexually Propagated Corals for Reef Restoration.

ABSTRACT: The use of sexually propagated corals is gaining popularity as an approach for reef restoration. However, manually attaching substrates with recently settled corals to the reef using binding materials is both time-consuming and expensive, limiting the use of this technique to small spatial scales. We present a novel approach whereby young corals are 'seeded' on the reef without the need for manual attachment to the benthos. We tested two tetrapod-shaped concrete substrates (7.9 and 9.8 cm in diameter) on which coral larvae were settled. The tetrapods were efficiently deployed by wedging them in reef crevices, in 1.5 to 7% of the time required for traditional outplanting techniques. Seeding tetrapods was most effective in reefs with moderately to highly complex topographies, where they rapi

SUBMITTER: Chamberland VF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5741773 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature