Coral Gardening - Nursery Phase — Discovery Bay

OPP-EY7VS8permanent identifier · cite as oceanportfolio.org/p/OPP-EY7VS8

Published as: Evaluating the potential of natural reproduction and artificial techniques to increase Acropora cervicornis populations at Discovery Bay, Jamaica. | Technique: Coral Gardening - Nursery Phase | Genera: Acropora | Method: 1) Coral fragments placed on plastic A-frames 2) coral fragments tied to cement base, placed on wire mesh sheet 4) monofilament line nurseries | Survival of transplants reported by the source: 20% | Post-restoration monitoring: 15 months | Authors' conclusion: Very limited recruitment at study site. Hurricanes and bleaching affected the experiment. 1) A-frames: Relatively low survival of fragments (4-68%). Fragments with multiple branches grew 54% faster than single branches. 2) Cement discs: Low survival of fragments on the cement discs. 100% mortality of A. prolifera, and 19% in A. cervicornis (after 37 weeks). 3) Line-nursery: 0% survival after a bleaching event early on in the experiment. In a second attempt, 40% mortality was achieved. | Lessons reported: Frames placed on rock or rubble attracted fire worms and algae farming Stegastes damselfish, while frames placed on sand did considerably better. However, placing frames too far away from reefs increased algal growth due to a lack of grazing by herbivores. Solution: use larger mesh which does not encourage algae farming, placed at distance where fireworms do not colonies, but grazing herbivores s… | 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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