Defense Date
8-5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Science
Degree Name
Marine Science
First Advisor
Joana Figueiredo, Ph.D
Second Advisor
Nicholas Jones, Ph.D
Third Advisor
David Smith, Ph.D
Keywords
percent settlement, settlement cues, colored substrate, reef sound, food
Abstract
For coral restoration to be effective at an ecosystem scale, ex situ coral propagation needs to be optimized and cost-effective. One of the major bottlenecks to sexual propagation of Caribbean corals ex situ is low larval settlement, typically induced by the presence of crustose coralline algae (CCA) and microbial films. Previous studies found that coral larval settlement can be enhanced by colored substrates, healthy reef sounds, and the presence of food. This study assessed the potential synergistic effects of colored substrate, reef sounds, and food, along with the commonly used settlement cues (CCA and microbial films) on the larval settlement and metamorphosis of corals. To test this, the larvae of the Caribbean corals Diploria labyrinthiformis, Montastraea cavernosa, Orbicella faveolata, Colpophyllia natans, and Pseudodiploria strigosa were exposed to pre-conditioned tiles covered in CCA and microbial films and one, two, or three additional settlement cues (purple tile, reef sounds, and food), making up eight treatments. Their settlement was assessed against the control treatment, i.e. pre-conditioned white tile with CCA. Purple substrate increased larval settlement and metamorphosis of O. faveolata and C. natans, but not in the other species. Further studies are required to determine if food facilitates the larval settlement of some of the species tested, but if so, it likely has a minor effect. Healthy reef sounds did not boost settlement. The study species exhibited different reactions to the settlement cues tested, indicating that larval settlement cues are species-specific, and thus culture protocols need to be optimized at the species level.
NSUWorks Citation
Chloe Daniel. 2025. Optimizing Coral Sexual Propagation Ex Situ: Synergistic Effects of Multiple Cues on the Larval Settlement of Caribbean Corals. Master's thesis. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, . (214)
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcas_etd_all/214.