Coral restoration is rapidly becoming a mainstream strategic reef management response to address dramatic declines in coral cover worldwide. Restoration success can be defined as enhanced reef functions leading to improved ecosystem services, with multiple benefits at socio-ecological scales. However, there is often a mismatch between the objectives of coral restoration programs and the metrics used to assess their effectiveness. In particular, the scales of ecological benefits currently assessed are typically limited in both time and space, often being limited to short-term monitoring of the growth and survival of transplanted corals. In this paper, we explore reef-scale responses of coral assemblages to restoration practices applied in four well-established coral restoration programs. We found that hard coral cover and structural complexity were consistently greater at restored compared to unrestored (degraded) sites. However, patterns in coral diversity, coral recruitment, and coral health among restored, unrestored, and reference sites varied across locations, highlighting differences in methodologies among restoration programs. Altogether, differences in program objectives, methodologies, and the state of nearby coral communities were key drivers of variability in the responses of coral assemblages to restoration. The framework presented here provides guidance to improve qualitative and quantitative assessments of coral restoration efforts and can be applied to further understanding of the role of restoration within resilience-based reef management.

BackgroundPrimary care data gathered from Electronic Health Records are of the utmost interest considering the essential role of general practitioners (GPs) as coordinators of patient care. These data represent the synthesis of the patient history and also give a comprehensive picture of the population health status. Nevertheless, discrepancies between countries exist concerning routine data collection projects. Therefore, we wanted to identify elements that influence the development and durability of such projects.MethodsA systematic review was conducted using the PubMed database to identify worldwide current primary care data collection projects. The gray literature was also searched via official project websites and their contact person was emailed to obtain information on the project managers. Data were retrieved from the included studies using a standardized form, screening four aspects: projects features, technological infrastructure, GPs’ roles, data collection network organization.ResultsThe literature search allowed identifying 36 routine data collection networks, mostly in English-speaking countries: CPRD and THIN in the United Kingdom, the Veterans Health Administration project in the United States, EMRALD and CPCSSN in Canada. These projects had in common the use of technical facilities that range from extraction tools to comprehensive computing platforms. Moreover, GPs initiated the extraction process and benefited from incentives for their participation. Finally, analysis of the literature data highlighted that governmental services, academic institutions, including departments of general practice, and software companies, are pivotal for the promotion and durability of primary care data collection projects.ConclusionSolid technical facilities and strong academic and governmental support are required for promoting and supporting long-term and wide-range primary care data collection projects.

Marine organisms show population structure at a relatively fine spatial scale, even in open habitats. The tools commonly used to assess subtle patterns of connectivity have diverse levels of resolution and can complement each other to inform on population structure. We assessed and compared the discriminatory power of genetic markers and otolith shape to reveal the population structure on evolutionary and ecological time scales of the common sole (Solea solea), living in the Eastern English Channel (EEC) stock off France and the UK. First, we genotyped fish with Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms to assess population structure at an evolutionary scale. Then, we tested for spatial segregation of the subunits using otolith shape as an integrative tracer of life history. Finally, a supervised machine learning framework was applied to genotypes and otolith phenotypes to probabilistically assign adults to subunits and assess the discriminatory power of each approach. Low but significant genetic differentiation was found among subunits. Moreover, otolith shape appeared to vary spatially, suggesting spatial population structure at fine spatial scale. However, results of the supervised discriminant analyses failed to discriminate among subunits, especially for otolith shape. We suggest that the degree of population segregation may not be strong enough to allow for robust fish assignments. Finally, this study revealed a weak yet existing metapopulation structure of common sole at the fine spatial scale of the EEC based on genotypes and otolith shape, with one subunit being more isolated. Our study argues for the use of complementary tracers to investigate marine population structure.

1. Coral restoration has emerged globally as a form of life support for coral reefs, awaiting urgent mitigation of anthropogenic pressures. Yet its efficiency is difficult to assess, as sizeable transplantation programmes handle hundreds of thousands of fragments, with survival rates inherently time intensive to monitor.Owing to limited available data, the influence of most environmental and methodological factors is still unknown. 2. To address this issue, machine learning and computer vision were used to track individual colonies' survival, in a world first. Fragments from several species of Acropora and Pocillopora were transplanted over 12 sites across two Maldivian atolls. These colonies grew on coral frames, placed between 1 and 30 m deep.Analysis of monitoring pictures provided health and growth data on 77,574 individual coral colonies to inform the influence of genus, depth, initial fragment size, and substrate on their survival.3. Among 77,574 fragments, individual survival rate was 31% after 2 years (21% after 4 years), which is much lower than most reported results. Deeper placement was an important success factor for Acropora transplants, but not for Pocillopora.In both genera, smaller initial fragment size was key to increased survival rates.Pocillopora fragments survived better than Acropora fragments at shallow depths (≤7 m), regardless of initial fragment size. Deeper, both genera had similar survival rates, which were influenced by initial fragment size and depth with comparable importance. During the mid-2019 heat wave, previously transplanted Acropora fragments were 38% more likely to die than Pocillopora fragments. 4. Overall, the total volume of live coral steadily increased over time, by more than 3.7 Â 10 6 cm 3 per year, as the volume increase in surviving fragments more than compensated for the volume loss due to mortality. This finding supports the use of targeted coral restoration to accelerate reef recovery after mass bleaching events.