Development and growth of massive coral Lobophyllia hemprichii transplanted on Pramuka Island, Thousand Islands, Jakarta

Abstract

The condition of coral reefs in Indonesia is declining, one of the efforts to restore the condition is to carry out coral transplants. The method used in this research is fragmentation transplantation. This study was conducted to determine the effect of fragmentation (cutting) on coral species Lobophyllia hemprichii from F1 parent transplants carried out on Pramuka Island, Seribu Islands Jakarta. There were two types of coral cutting treatment, namely L1 (wound 1) and L2 (wound 2), with 14 replications. This study showed that there was no effect on the number of cuttings on the survival (SR) and growth of the sub-massive coral Lobophyllia hemprichii (P>0.05). All coral fragments were alive until the end of the observation (SR=100%) and there was an increase in fragment length every month in 2 treatments. The increase in length over 6 months in corals with 1 wound was 10.17 mm (from 67.48 mm to 79.65 mm) and in corals with 2 wounds was 11.74 mm (from 79.01 mm to 90.75 mm). Coral growth rate was also not significantly different between the two treatments (P>0.05), with a range of 1.54-1.94 mm/month (wound 1) and 1.49-3.16 mm/month (wound 2). The growth rate increased after the corals recovered from wound healing (after 5 months of transplantation).