Substrate Addition - Artificial reef — Galu Falhu, Malée

OPP-94M9QQpermanent identifier · cite as oceanportfolio.org/p/OPP-94M9QQ

Published as: Use of artificial reef structures to rehabilitate reef flats degraded by coral mining in the Maldives | Technique: Substrate Addition - Artificial reef | Disturbance addressed: Coral mining | Genera: Pocillopora, Acropora, Porites | Method: Concrete reef structures were deployed on a 1-2 m deep reef flat in the Maldives which was mined for coral. Fish and benthic communities were monitored. | Post-restoration monitoring: 15 months | Authors' conclusion: All structures were rapidly colonized by fish; the most structurally complex hosted fish abundance and species richness similar to undisturbed reef sites. However, the fish community structure was still markedly dissimilar to that of undegraded reef-flat sites. Structures were initially colonized by filamentous green algae (7 days), then barnacles (14 days), and subsequently by a diverse invertebrate community (6-8 weeks). First coral recruits were observed 6.5 months after emplacement. | Lessons reported: Higher structural complexity of artificial reefs will attract higher density and diversity of organisms. | This record was compiled from a published source and has not been confirmed by the organisation that carried out the work. No contribution to the condition index is recorded: the source reports survival of transplanted material, which is not a measure of ecosystem condition.

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