Coral reef restoration efforts in Latin American countries and territories

Bayraktarov, Elisa; Banaszak, Anastazia T.; Maya, Phanor Montoya; Kleypas, Joanie; Arias‐González, Jesús Ernesto; Blanco, Macarena; Calle-Triviño, Johanna; Charuvi, Nufar; Cortés-Useche, Camilo; Galván, Victor; Salgado, Miguel A. García; Gnecco, Mariana; Guendulain-García, Sergio D.; Delgado, Edwin A. Hernández; Moraga, José A. Marín; Maya, María Fernanda; Quiroz, Sandra Mendoza; Cervantes, Samantha Mercado; Morikawa, Megan K.; Nava, Gabriela; Pizarro, Valeria; Sellares-Blasco, Rita I.; Ramos, Samuel E. Suleimán; Cubero, Tatiana Villalobos; Villalpando, María; Frias-Torres, Sarah

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0228477

Cited by 45 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…With the upcoming decade of action, there is an urgent need to determine monitoring metrics and success indicators to assist restoration practitioners assessing the ecological outcomes of restoration (Waltham et al, 2020). Restoration goals and objectives are dependent on the ecosystem restored (Borja et al, 2010) and the specific circumstances of the restoration sites (Bayraktarov et al, 2020a). The choice of monitoring indicators should be adapted to suit specific restoration sites (Mcdonald et al, 2016).…”

Section: Monitoring Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This study reviewed the efforts of the scientific community to assess the ecological outcomes of coastal wetlands restoration. However, most of the ecological meaningful restoration projects are carried by practitioners outside of the scientific field, such as NGOs or foundations, whom do not have the same incentive to publish in the scientific literature (Bayraktarov et al, 2020a). To achieve an overall view of the practice of restoration, we should strengthen the links between practitioners and academics to improve knowledge transmission.…”

Section: Caveatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To achieve an overall view of the practice of restoration, we should strengthen the links between practitioners and academics to improve knowledge transmission. One way to do this would be to survey restoration practitioners directly and get information and knowledge which would have been lost otherwise (Bayraktarov et al, 2020a).…”

Section: Caveatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Indicators of Coastal Wetlands Restoration Success: A Systematic Review

et al. 2020

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Coastal wetlands restoration is an emerging field which aims to recover the ecological characteristics of degraded ecosystems to natural ones. The recent UN declaration of 2021–2030 as the “Decade on Ecosystem Restoration” will hopefully encourage global implementation of these projects. However, a lack of common indicators of restoration success hinders our knowledge on the ecological outcomes of restoration projects. We conducted a literature review to determine trends in monitoring indicators. We classified indicators following the Society for Ecological Restoration template, adapting it to coastal wetlands. We found that indicators on structural diversity (e.g., tree height, fish size) were the mostly commonly used. Indicators on ecosystem function were the second most investigated, with half of the assessed studies including them, especially those focusing on carbon, nutrient and sediment dynamics. We propose a recovery wheel framework adapted to coastal wetlands. Structural diversity indicators are generally easier to measure and often the traits that recover the fastest. However, ecosystem function indicators could be more important to assess the recovery of ecosystem services, which is a primary objective of restoration. Restoration objectives and goals are variable for each project, and we encourage future restoration projects on coastal wetlands to select the most appropriate indicators on the basis of the recovery wheel proposed in this study to plan a monitoring framework. Future studies assessing coastal wetlands restoration ecological outcomes should include ecosystem function indicators and monitor the sites over periods adequate to their recovery.

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Section: Monitoring Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Caveatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Indicators of Coastal Wetlands Restoration Success: A Systematic Review

et al. 2020

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“…To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the restoration of ecological functions at A. cervicornis outplanted sites in the Dominican Republic by including approaches using multiple variables to describe the correlations between the habitats studied (Bayraktarov et al, 2020;Boström-Einarsson et al, 2020;Seraphim et al, 2020). Here, we demonstrate that active restoration efforts result in direct ecological benefits, and help restore ecological function, expressed in the increased coral cover, structural complexity, and fish biomass described in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…Over the past 20 years, active reef restoration through human intervention has increased worldwide to mitigate the decline in coral cover. Propagation of corals for restoration is now considered an essential component of coral reef conservation and management strategies (Rinkevich, 2005(Rinkevich, , 2015Precht, 2006;Edwards and Gómez, 2007;Petersen et al, 2007;Edwards, 2010;Johnson et al, 2011;Nakamura et al, 2011;Toh et al, 2012;Young et al, 2012;Chamberland et al, 2015;Lirman and Schopmeyer, 2016;Schopmeyer et al, 2017;Calle-Triviño et al, 2018Bayraktarov et al, 2020;Shaver et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Approach to the Functional Importance of Acropora cervicornis in Outplanting Sites in the Dominican Republic

et al. 2021

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Coral restoration has been recognized as an increasingly important tool for coral conservation in recent years. In the Caribbean, the endangered staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis has been studied for restoration for over two decades with most studies focusing on evaluating simple metrics of success such as colony growth and survivorship in both nurseries and outplanted sites. However, for reef restoration to aid in the recovery of ecological function in outplanted sites, there is a need to measure the functional ecology of the impact of outplanting. Here, we present and identify positive ecological processes and ecological functions (such as increased fish biomass, coral cover, and increased in structural complexity) relative to active reef restoration. In the Southeastern Reefs Marine Sanctuary in the Dominican Republic, we monitored the percentage of benthic cover and fish biomass alongside active reef restoration over the period of 12 months in four zones. Subsequently, we developed multidimensional analyses in conjunction with generalized linear models (GLM) and linear models. Our results show there is a remarkable spatial and temporal differentiation favoring greater ecological function in restored areas. We observed the most noticeable patterns of change in the benthos and coral species composition. We found a positive relationship between amounts of outplanted colonies with the total fish biomass for the three outplanted sites. We highlight that Scarus iseri, a parrotfish critical for grazing maintenance, was the species with the greatest benefit. Our results provide evidence of the functional importance of Acropora cervicornis in coral reef active restoration efforts.

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Substantial advancement in aquaria rearing methods to assist recovery of an Endangered soft coral

Larkin

Davis

Harasti

et al. 2022

Aquatic Conservation

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The temperate soft coral Dendronephthya australis has been listed as Endangered in NSW, Australia, owing to its restricted geographic range, rapidly declining populations, and a number of escalating threats. Research to assess practical methods for aquarium cultivation of D. australis for rehabilitation of wild populations is considered a high priority. Previous attempts at restoration by transplanting D. australis fragments have had limited success, but identified key challenges, which included achieving attachment to substrates and identifying appropriate foods to maximize survival. This study presents the results of experiments promoting the attachment of cuttings (nubbins) removed from donor colonies to moveable substrates (small concrete discs). Using a balanced orthogonal experimental design, three feeding regimes were tested: live artemia, live rotifers and dry powdered zooplankton. Donor colony survival and growth were also monitored over a 6 month period in the field. An overall nubbin survival rate of 100% was achieved under all three feeding regimes. Attachment rates were similar across feeding treatments, although nubbin behavioural responses (percentage of open polyps before feeding) suggested some preference for live rotifers. The cutting removal process had no significant effect on donor colonies in the wild, indicating that this is a sustainable approach for restoration. Overall, this study substantially advances the methodology for maintaining an Endangered azooxanthellate soft coral in aquaria and provides valuable input for management programmes aimed at implementing transplantation into the wild to aid species recovery.

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Coral reef restoration efforts in Latin American countries and territories

Cited by 45 publications

References 64 publications

Indicators of Coastal Wetlands Restoration Success: A Systematic Review

Indicators of Coastal Wetlands Restoration Success: A Systematic Review

Approach to the Functional Importance of Acropora cervicornis in Outplanting Sites in the Dominican Republic

Substantial advancement in aquaria rearing methods to assist recovery of an Endangered soft coral

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