Regional Restoration Benchmarks for Acropora cervicornis

Authors

S. Schopmeyer, University of Miami
Diego Lirman, University of Miami
Erich Bartels, Mote Marine Laboratory
David S. Gilliam, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Elizabeth Goergen, Nova Southeastern University
Sean P. Griffin, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
Meaghan E. Johnson, The Nature Conservancy - Florida
Caitlin Lustic, The Nature Conservancy - Florida
Kerry Maxwell, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Cory Walter, Mote Marine Laboratory

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Coral Reefs

ISSN

0722-4028

Publication Date

12-2017

Keywords

Acropora cervicornis, Restoration, Species recovery, Survival, Productivity, Growth

Abstract

Coral gardening plays an important role in the recovery of depleted populations of threatened Acropora cervicornis in the Caribbean. Over the past decade, high survival coupled with fast growth of in situ nursery corals have allowed practitioners to create healthy and genotypically diverse nursery stocks. Currently, thousands of corals are propagated and outplanted onto degraded reefs on a yearly basis, representing a substantial increase in the abundance, biomass, and overall footprint of A. cervicornis. Here, we combined an extensive dataset collected by restoration practitioners to document early (1–2 yr) restoration success metrics in Florida and Puerto Rico, USA. By reporting region-specific data on the impacts of fragment collection on donor colonies, survivorship and productivity of nursery corals, and survivorship and productivity of outplanted corals during normal conditions, we provide the basis for a stop-light indicator framework for new or existing restoration programs to evaluate their performance. We show that current restoration methods are very effective, that no excess damage is caused to donor colonies, and that once outplanted, corals behave just as wild colonies. We also provide science-based benchmarks that can be used by programs to evaluate successes and challenges of their efforts, and to make modifications where needed. We propose that up to 10% of the biomass can be collected from healthy, large A. cervicornis donor colonies for nursery propagation. We also propose the following benchmarks for the first year of activities for A. cervicornis restoration: (1) >75% live tissue cover on donor colonies; (2) >80% survivorship of nursery corals; and (3) >70% survivorship of outplanted corals. Finally, we report productivity means of 4.4 cm yr⁻¹ for nursery corals and 4.8 cm yr⁻¹ for outplants as a frame of reference for ranking performance within programs. Such benchmarks, and potential subsequent adaptive actions, are needed to fully assess the long-term success of coral restoration and species recovery programs.

DOI

10.1007/s00338-017-1596-3

Volume

36

Issue

4

First Page

1047

Last Page

1057

Comments

©Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017

Additional Comments

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act award #: NA09NFF4630332

NSUWorks Citation

S. Schopmeyer, Diego Lirman, Erich Bartels, David S. Gilliam, Elizabeth Goergen, Sean P. Griffin, Meaghan E. Johnson, Caitlin Lustic, Kerry Maxwell, and Cory Walter. 2017. Regional Restoration Benchmarks for Acropora cervicornis .Coral Reefs , (4) : 1047 -1057. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/904.