Publication Date:
2016-09-29
Description:
Since the listing ofAcropora palmataandA. cervicornisunder the US Endangered Species Act in 2006, increasing investments have been made in propagation of listed corals (primarilyA. cervicornis,A. palmatato a much lesser extent) in offshore coral nurseries and outplanting cultured fragments to reef habitats. This investment is superimposed over a spatiotemporal patchwork of ongoing disturbances (especially storms, thermal bleaching, and disease) as well as the potential for natural population recovery. In 2014 and 2015, we repeated broad scale (〉50 ha), low precisionAcroporaspp. censuses (i.e., direct observation by snorkelers documented via handheld GPS) originally conducted in appropriate reef habitats during 2005–2007 to evaluate the trajectory of local populations and the effect of population enhancement. Over the decade-long study,A. palmatashowed a cumulative proportional decline of 0.4 – 0.7x in colony density across all sites, despite very low levels of outplanting at some sites.A. cervicornisshowed similar proportional declines at sites without outplanting. In contrast, sites that receivedA. cervicornisoutplants showed a dramatic increase in density (over 13x). Indeed, change inA. cervicorniscolony density was significantly positively correlated with cumulative numbers of outplants across sites. This study documents a substantive reef-scale benefit ofAcroporaspp. population enhancement in the Florida Keys, when performed at adequate levels, against a backdrop of ongoing population decline.
Electronic ISSN:
2167-8359
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
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