Restoring Coral Reefs Research Articles

Reef refugia in the aftermath of past episodes of global warming

In the face of rising global temperatures, coral reefs experience coral mass bleaching and mortality. Subtropical and mesophotic environments may represent refugia for reef corals under climate change, where they can survive and eventually recolonize degraded areas. Using a comprehensive database of fossil reefs, we empirically assess the efficacy of subtropical, deeper, and turbid mesophotic environments to restore coral reefs after past global warming events. We focus on tropical coral reefs over the last 275 million years and four rapid climate warming events, which coincided with global reef crises in the geological record. In the aftermath of such hyperthermal events, we observed an increase in the proportions of reefs occurring in deeper (blue) mesophotic environments. Additionally, we found a trend of reef distributions and coral shifting towards higher latitudes. The number of coral occurrences in turbid (brown mesophotic) environments also increased after hyperthermal events. Our results suggest that subtropical, blue, and brown mesophotic environments may have served as immediate refugia for shallow-water coral species escaping warming seawater. While the patterns of reef range shifts and the establishment of blue and brown mesophotic refugia following ancient hyperthermal events provide some hope for coral reefs under current climate change, re-establishement of background reef conditions took most times millions of years.Ante el incremento de temperatura global, los arrecifes coralinos están experimentando eventos masivos de blanqueamiento y mortalidad. Los ambientes subtropicales y mesofóticos pueden representar refugios para los corales arrecifales, en los cuales pueden escapar de los efectos del cambio climático, sobrevivir y desde allí recolonizar áreas previamente degradadas. Mediante el uso de una exhaustiva base de datos en arrecifes coralinos, en este estudio se evaluó empíricamente la eficacia de los ambientes subtropicales y mesofóticos, tanto de aguas turbias someras (marrones) como de aguas claras profundas (azules), en la recuperación de arrecifes coralinos después de eventos hipertermales en el pasado. Nuestro enfoque estuvo en los arrecifes coralinos tropicales durante los últimos 275 millones de años y cuatro eventos de calentamiento climático rápido, los cuales coinciden con crisis globales en la ocurrencia de arrecifes en el registro fósil. Como consecuencia de dichos eventos hipertermales, observamos un aumento del número de arrecifes en ambientes mesofóticos de aguas profundas (azules). Además, encontramos una tendencia en la distribución de arrecifes y corales que se desplazan hacia latitudes más altas. También se observó un aumento en el número de corales que estuvieron presentes en ambientes de aguas turbias (marrones) después de dichos eventos hipertermales. Nuestros resultados sugieren que, en el pasado, los ambientes subtropicales, mesofóticos azules y mesofóticos marrones pudieron haber servido como refugios inmediatos para las especies de coral de aguas someras, en los cuales encuentran condiciones atenuantes ante el calentamiento oceánico. Si bien los patrones de desplazamiento de los arrecifes en el rango latitudinal y el establecimiento de refugios mesofóticos de aguas marrones y azules posteriores a eventos hipertermales brindan una luz de esperanza para el futuro de los arrecifes coralinos de cara al cambio climático actual, nuestros resultados evidencian que el restablecimiento de los arrecifes puede tomar millones de años.

Growth rate and survival rate of montipora coral transplant on faba material in Baluran National Park

Coral transplantation is one of the rehabilitation efforts that can be applied to accelerate the coral reef recovery process. FABA (fly ash bottom ash) is an environmentally friendly material and is declared suitable for use as a coral transplantation medium. This study aims to determine the growth rate of transplanted corals as an effort to rehabilitate damaged coral reef ecosystems and restore coral reef habitat and biota associated with coral reef communities in Bama waters, Baluran National Park, East Java. The corals studied were Montipora sp. The research location has a salinity range of around 31-34 psu, temperature 28-30°C,100% brightness, turbidity (turbidity) 1.2-1.6 NTU, current velocity between 0.07 m/s to 0.31 m/s, and sedimentation ranged from 2.81 mg/cm2/day to 5.92 mg/cm2/day, nitrate 0.004-0.026 mg/l, ammonia 0.048-0.189 mg/l, and orthophosphate 0.008-0.028 mg/l. In general, the water conditions in Bama are still in quite good condition for coral growth. During the 4 months of observation, the achievement of growth in length and height of coral species of Montipora sp. reach 60.56 mm and 21.31 mm, respectively. The growth rate of the average length and height of Montipora sp. respectively reached 15.14 mm per month and 5.33 mm per month.

Live slow, die old: larval propagation of slow-growing, stress-tolerant corals for reef restoration

Efforts to restore coral reefs usually involve transplanting asexually propagated fast-growing corals. However, this approach can lead to outplanted populations with low genotypic diversity, composed of taxa susceptible to stressors such as marine heatwaves. Sexual coral propagation leads to greater genotypic diversity, and using slow-growing, stress-tolerant taxa may provide a longer-term return on restoration efforts due to higher outplant survival. However, there have been no reports to date detailing the full cycle of rearing stress-tolerant, slow-growing corals from eggs until sexual maturity. Here, we sexually propagated and transplanted two massive slow-growing coral species to examine long-term success as part of reef restoration efforts. Coral spat were settled on artificial substrates and reared in nurseries for approximately two years, before being outplanted and monitored for survivorship and growth for a further four years. More than half of initially settled substrates supported a living coral following nursery rearing, and survivorship was also high following outplantation with yields declining by just 10 to 14% over four years. At 6-years post-fertilisation over 90% of outplanted corals were reproductively mature, demonstrating the feasibility of restoring populations of sexually mature massive corals in under a decade. Although use of slower growing, stress tolerant corals for reef restoration may provide a longer-term return on investment due to high post-transplantation survival rates, considerable time is required to achieve even modest gains in coral cover due to their relatively slow rates of growth. This highlights the need to use a mix of species with a range of life-history traits in reef restoration and to improve survivorship of susceptible fast-growing taxa that can generate rapid increases in coral cover.

UPAYA TRANSPLANTASI TERUMBU KARANG (Acropora sp.) SEBAGAI REHABILITASI FUNGSI KAWASAN EKOSISTEM TERUMBU KARANG TERDAMPAK TUMPAHAN MINYAK ASPAL DI DESA AFULU KABUPATEN NIAS UTARA

A tanker that was transporting 1,900 tons of raw asphalt into the North Nias Marine Protected Area spilled it, contaminating the ocean up to 50 kilometers away from the North Nias Regency Marine Protected Area. Long-term effects on the coral reef ecosystem are anticipated to build up and result in a decline in fish catches. The community service team works to restore coral reef ecosystem areas utilizing coral reef transplanting technology as a solution to the partners problems. In accordance with the goals of the policy direction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) number 14 to increase conservation, rehabilitation, and disaster resilience in coastal and marine areas, to establish and develop a group of productive communities through KUB Harapan Wunga Nias Utara. Implementation of activities to solve KUB Harapan Wunga partner problems in Afulu Village, using counseling and simulation approaches carried out holistically. All activities go through four stages, preparation of activities, outreach, delivery of operational tools and materials, field activities simulating the search for coral donors and removing tables coral transplant shelf. The results of the activity were created and delivery of 15 units of transplant racks along with tools and materials which were handed over to community service partners, outreach and field activities attended by the Afulu Village Secretary, head of the Harapan Wunga Kelompok Usaha Bersama (KUB), 10 fishermen and 17 community service team students. The transplant shelf that has been removed at the location will be observed for every 2 weeks by the community service partner. This community service activity has a positive impact and a new understanding for the partners of the Harapan Wunga Kelompok Usaha Bersama (KUB) Afulu Village, Afulu District, North Nias Regency regarding the major influence of the function coral reef ecosystems for the catch of fishermen as well as providing new experience in the application of science and technology (IPTEK) for transplantation coral reefs. The implementation of community service succesfully, partners were very enthusiastic about carrying out coral reef transplantation simulation activities, besides that the role of lecturers and students in applying knowledge about management of conservation area utilization and management of coral reefs as well.

MODELING CORAL REEF RESTORATION TO REDUCE COASTAL HAZARDS FROM SCALES OF CENTIMETERS TO KILOMETERS

Coral reefs are effective natural barriers that protect adjacent coastal communities from hazards such as erosion and storm-induced flooding. However, the degradation of coral reefs compromises their efficacy to protect against these hazards, making degraded reefs a target for restoration. At present, there is little guidance on how and where to restore coral reefs for coastal hazard risk reduction. Here we present modeling at a series of scales to provide such guidance.

Variation of Coral Fish Communities in Coral Transplantation Sites, Kecinan Beach, Malaka Village, North Lombok

Coral reefs are a very complex ecosystem with a fairly high diversity of biota, the existence of coral fish will be greatly affected by the condition of coral reefs, coral transplantation is an effort to restore coral reefs which aims to improve coral reef ecosystems. This study aims to look at the reef fish community in coral transplant media. Data collection was carried out on January 15 – February 26, 2023. The method used in this study was a survey method. Data was collected using the Underwater Visual Census (UVC) technique and underwater cameras using SCUBA equipment. Data collection was carried out 4 times by looking at diversity, abundance, and categories based on how they eat. The results of this study obtained 6 families belonging to 13 genera and 15 species of reef fish with a total of 549 individuals. The categories of fish found consisted of 4 categories, namely 3 species of carnivores, 2 species of herbivores, 8 species of omnivores, and 2 species of corallivores. The diversity index value (H') was 1.662, the uniformity index (E) was 0.613, and the dominance index value (C) was 0.266.

First successful production of adult corals derived from cryopreserved larvae

Coral reefs worldwide are declining due to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, which, combined with local anthropogenic pressure, are exacerbating unprecedented mass coral bleaching. For corals to survive, restoring coral reefs through cryopreservation is crucial. The aim of this study was to vitrify and laser-warm Stylophora pistillata planulae to allow for feasible settlement, post-settlement survival, and the production of adult corals. The no-observed-effect concentrations were used to determine the best cryoprotective agents for S. pistillata. The larvae were then subjected to cooling and nanolaser warming (300 V, 10 ms pulse width, 2 mm beam diameter) by using two vitrification solutions (VSs; VS1: 2 M dimethyl sulfoxide and 1 M ethylene glycol and VS2: 2M EG and 1M DMSO and gold nanoparticles. The results revealed that VS1-treated larvae had a higher vitrification rate (65%), swimming rate (23.1%), settlement rate (11.54%), and post settlement survival rate (11.54%) than those treated with VS2. Seasonal variations also affected the cryopreservation of the planulae; VS1 was more favorable for the planulae in spring than in fall. Although laser-warmed larvae developed slower morphologically than their controlled counterparts, the production of adult S. pistillata corals from cryopreserved larvae was achieved. The proposed technique can improve the cryopreservation of corals and advance efforts to protect endangered coral species.

Insights into coral restoration projects in Japan

Coral transplantation, including out-plantation, is performed worldwide to restore coral reefs. To date, >300 000 coral colonies have been transplanted in Japan, and the survival rate of transplanted corals is mostly <20% after 4 years. Here, I highlight problems that have arisen as a result of coral restoration projects in Japan and discuss solutions that may maximise transplantation effectiveness. The government, companies, and researchers have focused on the positive aspects of transplantation technology and new biological findings; however, negative aspects such as the high mortality rate for transplanted corals and high maintenance costs have garnered less attention. Uncritical and incomplete coverage of reef projects by the mass media has led to a misconception that the coral reef crisis can be resolved by current biological engineering solutions. Therefore, transplantation has been used to justify sea reclamation including marine leisure facilities and various other construction projects. Consequently, approximately 400 ha of coral reefs in Japan have been lost in only a decade. Understanding the limitations of transplantation techniques is necessary, and hence, I propose that coral transplantation guidelines be adopted to prevent further loss. Further advances in transplantation technology are required to increase scalability and cost-effectiveness and improve survival/performance; however, practitioners, researchers, companies, and governments, especially in environmentally unconscious countries, should clearly state that coral transplantation cannot restore large-scale coral reef ecosystems and should not be used to justify land reclamation affecting reefs, as mentioned in most international guidelines. Moreover, when coral transplantation and seedling production are used for environmental education, the death of transplanted corals and difficulties underlying artificial coral regeneration should be clearly explained. Effective coral transplantation use within a conservation framework is critical to avoid high and unfounded expectations.

Shoreline protection by the world’s coral reefs: Mapping the benefits to people, assets, and infrastructure

The important role of coral reefs in protecting people, economies and infrastructure is widely acknowledged. Coral reefs are highly effective at reducing wave energy and thereby diminishing the impact of both flooding and erosion in coastal areas. Understanding these benefits, and their spatial distribution, can play a critical role in driving efforts to protect or even restore coral reefs, with critical societal benefits. Simple, high-resolution models were used to generate a global map which suggests that 26 % of the coastline of the world’s coral reef nations receive some protection benefits, and that, over decadal periods some 5.3 million people and $109 billion of GDP are protected by coral reefs. Separate maps show the values at the shore and plot the reefs providing those values. Differences exist between metrics (population, GDP and night-time lights as a metric for infrastructure) raising the importance of considering ecosystem service values with multiple metrics, including non-monetary values. Patterns of protection are highly heterogeneous, however many of the most important areas are adjacent to highly developed shores and many of these receive little or no management attention.

Translating the 10 golden rules of reforestation for coral reef restoration.

Efforts are accelerating to protect and restore ecosystems globally. With trillions of dollars in ecosystem services at stake, no clear framework exists for developing or prioritizing approaches to restore coral reefs even as efforts and investment opportunities to do so grow worldwide. Restoration may buy time for climate change mitigation, but it lacks rigorous guidance to meet objectives of scalability and effectiveness. Lessons from restoration of terrestrial ecosystems can and should be rapidly adopted for coral reef restoration. We propose how the 10 golden rules of effective forest restoration can be translated to accelerate efforts to restore coral reefs based on established principles of resilience, management, and local stewardship. We summarize steps to undertake reef restoration as a management strategy in the context of the diverse ecosystem service values that coral reefs provide. Outlining a clear blueprint is timely as more stakeholders seek to undertake restoration as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration begins.

Gaining public engagement to restore coral reef ecosystems in the face of acute crisis

The twin crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change make it urgent to find ways of restoring natural ecosystems, including coral reefs. Methods for coral reef restoration are rapidly advancing, bringing with them a range of potential risks and opportunities. Attention to public engagement in the governance of such activities therefore becomes critical. This research examines public attitudinal and behavioral engagement in ‘traditional’ coral restoration projects in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (i.e. coral gardening at relatively small scales). Grounded on dual-process decision-making and trust theories, rational factors (i.e., perceived benefits), emotions (i.e., hope and guilt) and trust are conceptually three main determinants of public engagement in ecological restoration. We used a mixed-method approach, including 63 individual interviews and a follow-up survey with 1585 participants, to clarify the roles of these psychological factors in motivating public engagement in current coral restoration projects. Trust was found to be the most important factor influencing public acceptance (i.e., attitudinal engagement) of coral restoration, while the emotion of guilt was the most influential factor affecting public support (i.e., behavioral engagement). Therefore, when advocating for conservation projects, different campaigns could be implemented with: (1) positive messages of hope and trust to gain public acceptance for government-funded restoration projects and (2) messages highlighting individual responsibility to motivate behavioral support to scale up restoration projects.

Restoring coral reefs with 3D-printed skeletons

Restoring coral reefs with 3D-printed skeletons

Six priorities to advance the science and practice of coral reef restoration worldwide

Coral reef restoration is a rapidly growing movement galvanized by the accelerating degradation of the world's tropical coral reefs. The need for concerted and collaborative action focused on the recovery of coral reef ecosystems coalesced in the creation of the Coral Restoration Consortium (CRC) in 2017. In March 2020, the CRC leadership team met for a biennial review of international coral reef restoration efforts and a discussion of perceived knowledge and implementation bottlenecks that may impair scalability and efficacy. Herein we present six priorities wherein the CRC will foster scientific advancement and collaboration to: (1) increase restoration efficiency, focusing on scale and cost‐effectiveness of deployment; (2) scale up larval‐based coral restoration efforts, emphasizing recruit health, growth, and survival; (3) ensure restoration of threatened coral species proceeds within a population‐genetics management context; (4) support a holistic approach to coral reef ecosystem restoration; (5) develop and promote the use of standardized terms and metrics for coral reef restoration; and (6) support coral reef restoration practitioners working in diverse geographic locations. These priorities are not exhaustive nor do we imply that accomplishing these tasks alone will be sufficient to restore coral reefs globally; rather these are topics where we feel the CRC community of practice can make timely and significant contributions to facilitate the growth of coral reef restoration as a practical conservation strategy. The goal for these collective actions is to provide tangible, local‐scale advancements in reef condition that offset declines resulting from local and global stressors including climate change.

Kelangsungan Hidup Larva Planula Acropora sp dalam Pemeliharaan Terkontrol Kepadatan yang Berbeda

The survival of coral larvae as early phase of coral life is very important for their viability in environmen. This research aims to determine the survival of Acropora sp planula at different densities intensive nursery, and also to khow the critical survival time of them.. This research method was used experiment in density of larvae were held in control laboratory. The planula were rearing ini small container 200 ml of water while the lavae density were used namely 0.5; 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 larvae / ml. The results indicated that survival rate for larvae of different densities (0.5 larvae/ml; 1.0 larvae/ml; 1.5 larvae/ml; 2.0 larvae/m) did not show any significant difference (P&gt;0.05). the highest survival rate of planula larvae was in the treatment with a density of 1.5 larvae/ml and the lowest from a density of 2.0 larvae/ml, and the most larval mortality was in the first 12 hours of rearing, due to the degree of adaptation of larvae to the rearing water medium in all treatment units, then death coral larvae decreased exponentially. This research will be very useful for efforts to restore coral reefs sexually, so as to reduce the impact of exploitation of coral seedlings which are often taken for asexual coral reef restoration as is often done throughout the world's coral reefs.

Reefscape Genomics: Leveraging Advances in 3D Imaging to Assess Fine-Scale Patterns of Genomic Variation on Coral Reefs

Coral reefs across the world are undergoing rapid deterioration, and understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes that govern these ecosystems is critical to our ability to protect them. Molecular ecological studies have been instrumental in advancing such understanding, and while initially focused primarily on broad-scale patterns, they have gradually uncovered the prevalence of local genetic structuring. Genome-wide sequencing approaches have provided new opportunities to understand both neutral and adaptive contributions to this largely unexplained diversity, but fine-scale assessments have been hampered by challenges associated with aquatic environments, in terms of (geo)referencing, seafloor characterization, and in situ phenotyping. Here, we discuss the potential of “reefscape genomics,” leveraging recent advances in underwater imaging to enable spatially explicit genomic studies on coral reefs. More specifically, we consider how (close-range) photogrammetry approaches enable (1) fine-scale spatial mapping of benthic target organisms, (2) repeatable characterization of the abiotic and biotic reefscape, and (3) simultaneous in situ mass-phenotyping. The spatially explicit consideration of genomic data –combined with detailed environmental and phenotypic characterization– opens up the opportunity for fine-scale landscape genomic approaches on coral reefs (and other marine ecosystems). Such approaches enable assessment of the spatio-temporal drivers and adaptive potential of the extensive genetic structuring and cryptic diversity encountered in benthic invertebrates, such as reef-building corals. Considering the threats that coral reefs are facing worldwide, we believe that reefscape genomics represents a promising advancement of our molecular ecological toolkit to help inform how we can most effectively conserve and restore coral reef ecosystems into the future.

Influences of genotype, phenotypes, and size characteristics on lesion recovery in Caribbean staghorn coral

Severe declines of coral cover in the Caribbean and throughout the world have led scientists and managers to invest in restoring coral reefs and determining which coral phenotypes and genotypes will maximize restoration success. Acropora cervicornis is the species most commonly used by restoration programs in the Caribbean, but only a handful of studies have documented its capacity for wound healing, a phenotype identified as essential for predicting genotype performance. Here, we examined the influence of genotype, lesion area, colony size, and growth, along with tissue, chlorophyll a, lipid, and symbiont densities, on the recovery capacity of staghorn corals in a field experiment. Colonies with smaller lesion areas, lower tissue densities, and greater chlorophyll a densities healed more efficiently 9 d after wound infliction. At 16 d, initial colony size was the only significant predictor variable, with smaller colonies healing more quickly. Healing rate varied significantly by genotype, ranging from 50 to 100% of fragments healed by genotype 16 d after wounding. Colony growth was not predictive of recovery rate, but wounded corals grew more slowly than non-wounded corals, providing evidence for a tradeoff between these 2 phenotypes. We encourage restoration practitioners to fragment smaller colonies and generate smaller lesions in the interest of rapid wound recovery. We also recommend that practitioners identify rapidly healing genets not from tissue assays but through lesion recovery tracking and outplant these genotypes in higher abundance at restoration sites, particularly in high-energy environments where colonies are vulnerable to fragmentation.

EFFECTIVENESS OF ARTIFICIAL REEF IN INCREASING THE RESILIENCE OF CORAL REEF ECOSYSTEMS OVER CLIMATE VARIABILITY

Some coral bleaching event related to climate variability (ENSO or IOD) lead to coral mortality resulted in ecosystem damage and decreased in ecosystem health. Artificial reef is one of management efforts adopted by stakeholders to restore coral reef condition. Successful artificial reef could extend coral coverage and provides a new habitat for several marine organisms and could divert anthropogenic pressure on natural coral ecosystems. The current research aims are to identify the impact of artificial reef installment on ecosystem and fisheries. Three indicators for ecosystem were determined, such as an increase in coral cover, biofouling organism and fish abundance and number of fish species. The indicator to measure artificial impact on fisheries is fish production after installment. Data collection were done during 2017 around Bali area, including the occurrence of coral bleaching, the number of artificial reef installed and the case of positive impact of artificial reef. The list of indicator data was done, then the data were analyzed to measure any changes occurred after artificial reef installment. Results show that artificial reef installment has a significant impact on increasing coral cover, fouling organism, fish abundance and species richness; however the effect of artificial reef installment could not directly quantify on fish production due to unavailability of monitoring data.

Coral reef restoration efforts in Latin American countries and territories

Coral reefs worldwide are degrading due to climate change, overfishing, pollution, coastal development, coral bleaching, and diseases. In areas where the natural recovery of an ecosystem is negligible or protection through management interventions insufficient, active restoration becomes critical. The Reef Futures symposium in 2018 brought together over 400 reef restoration experts, businesses, and civil organizations, and galvanized them to save coral reefs through restoration or identify alternative solutions. The symposium highlighted that solutions and discoveries from long-term and ongoing coral reef restoration projects in Spanish-speaking countries in the Caribbean and Eastern Tropical Pacific were not well known internationally. Therefore, a meeting of scientists and practitioners working in these locations was held to compile the data on the extent of coral reef restoration efforts, advances and challenges. Here, we present unpublished data from 12 coral reef restoration case studies from five Latin American countries, describe their motivations and techniques used, and provide estimates on total annual project cost per unit area of reef intervened, spatial extent as well as project duration. We found that most projects used direct transplantation, the coral gardening method, micro-fragmentation or larval propagation, and aimed to optimize or scale-up restoration approaches (51%) or provide alternative, sustainable livelihood opportunities (15%) followed by promoting coral reef conservation stewardship and re-establishing a self-sustaining, functioning reef ecosystems (both 13%). Reasons for restoring coral reefs were mainly biotic and experimental (both 42%), followed by idealistic and pragmatic motivations (both 8%). The median annual total cost from all projects was $93,000 USD (range: $10,000 USD-$331,802 USD) (2018 dollars) and intervened a median spatial area of 1 ha (range: 0.06 ha-8.39 ha). The median project duration was 3 years; however, projects have lasted up to 17 years. Project feasibility was high with a median of 0.7 (range: 0.5-0.8). This study closes the knowledge gap between academia and practitioners and overcomes the language barrier by providing the first comprehensive compilation of data from ongoing coral reef restoration efforts in Latin America.

Advancing Coastal Risk Reduction Science and Implementation by Accounting for Climate, Ecosystems, and People

Climate change and population growth are degrading coastal ecosystems and increasing risks to communities and infrastructure. Reliance on seawalls and other types of hardened shorelines is unsustainable in an era of rising seas, given the costs to build and maintain these structures and their unintended consequences on ecosystems. This is especially true for communities that depend on coastal and marine ecosystems for livelihoods and sustenance. Protecting and restoring coral reefs and coastal forests can be lower cost, sustainable alternatives for shoreline protection. However, decision-makers often lack basic information about where and under what conditions ecosystems reduce risk to coastal hazards and who would benefit. To better understand where to prioritize ecosystems for coastal protection, we assessed risk reduction provided by coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass along the entire coast of The Bahamas, under current and future climate scenarios. Modeled results show that the population most exposed to coastal hazards would more than double with future sea-level rise and more than triple if ecosystems were lost or degraded. We also found that ecosystem-based risk reduction differs across islands due to variation in a suite of ecological, physical, and social variables. On some populated islands, like Grand Bahama and Abaco, habitats provide protection to disproportionately large numbers of people compared to the rest of the country. Risk reduction provided by ecosystems is also evident for several sparsely populated, remote coastal communities, in some cases with large elderly populations. The results from our analyses were critical for engaging policy-makers in discussions about employing natural and nature-based features for coastal resilience. After hurricanes Joaquin and Matthew hit The Bahamas in 2016 and 2017, our assessment of coastal risk reduction and the multiple benefits provided by coastal ecosystems helped pave the way for an innovative loan from the Inter-American Development Bank to the Government of The Bahamas to invest in mangrove restoration for coastal resilience. This work serves as an example for other regions and investors aiming to use assessments of ecosystem services to inform financing of natural and nature-based approaches for coastal resilience and climate adaptation.

Bommies away! Logistics and early effects of repositioning 400 tonnes of displaced coral colonies following cyclone impacts on the Great Barrier Reef

SummaryFor over 40 years, management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) in Australia has focused on limiting human‐use impacts to facilitate natural resilience and recovery. Compounding acute disturbances and chronic stressors have resulted in degradation of coral reef habitats in many areas of the Marine Park. Given current trends and predictions of escalating climate‐driven disturbances, it is increasingly evident that effective management of the GBRMP requires adaptive and novel approaches to protect and restore coral reef health. Here, we provide an overview of the logistical requirements and early‐stage ecological benefits of repositioning 400 tonnes of moderately sized (1–3 m diameter) Porites spp. coral colonies (bommies) that were displaced by cyclone‐generated swells that impacted reefs in the Whitsunday Islands during March 2017. An ecological survey conducted 16 months after the bommie repositioning revealed that several genera of hard coral had settled onto the bommies and that a range of reef fish species were associating with the restored habitat. Early findings suggest that the repositioning of the displaced bommies has assisted in restoring reef habitat structure and settlement habitat for juvenile corals, while improving natural aesthetics, vessel access and tourist experiences at Manta Ray Bay.