Coral restoration is becoming popular to help restoring degraded coral reefs.However,few studies have tried to monitor the long-term recovery of coral reefs,which makes it diffi cult to assess the performance of the r...Coral restoration is becoming popular to help restoring degraded coral reefs.However,few studies have tried to monitor the long-term recovery of coral reefs,which makes it diffi cult to assess the performance of the restoration.We monitored the growth of three transplanted Acropora corals and naturally-attached Pocillopora damicornis on artifi cial reefs(ARs)from October 2014 to September 2018 during which there were several attacks of typhoons.Results show that two staghorn Acropora species had the highest growth rates(11.0–12.1 cm/a),followed by table coral A.divaricate(5.6 cm/a)and P.damicornis(4.8 cm/a).A linear growth pattern was found for the three Acropora species;the pattern gradually slowed in P.damicornis.There was a strong interspecifi c competition for space among the corals on ARs,and it led to the sharply declined occurrence of slow-growing P.darmicornis colonies in 2017.Coral recovery was successful at the Wuzhizhou Island and quickly increased AR complexity.However,the ARs made of metal frames fail to resist the direct attack from a catastrophic typhoon.Therefore,concrete and environmentalfriendly materials should be used in future restoration.This study is the fi rst report on long-term monitoring and assessment of coral reef restoration in China.The results off er future guide of reef restoration for impaired coral reefs in regions easily aff ected by typhoons.展开更多
基金Supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(No.2018YFC1406503),the Scientifi c Research Foundation of Third Institutes of Oceanography“Fujian Provincial Station for Field Observation and Research of Island and Coastal Zone in Zhangzhou”(No.TIO 2019017)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41976127)the China-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation Fund Project“Monitoring and Conservation of coastal ecosystems in the South China Sea”and“China-ASEAN Countries Collaboration on Marine Endangered Species Researches(MESR)”。
文摘Coral restoration is becoming popular to help restoring degraded coral reefs.However,few studies have tried to monitor the long-term recovery of coral reefs,which makes it diffi cult to assess the performance of the restoration.We monitored the growth of three transplanted Acropora corals and naturally-attached Pocillopora damicornis on artifi cial reefs(ARs)from October 2014 to September 2018 during which there were several attacks of typhoons.Results show that two staghorn Acropora species had the highest growth rates(11.0–12.1 cm/a),followed by table coral A.divaricate(5.6 cm/a)and P.damicornis(4.8 cm/a).A linear growth pattern was found for the three Acropora species;the pattern gradually slowed in P.damicornis.There was a strong interspecifi c competition for space among the corals on ARs,and it led to the sharply declined occurrence of slow-growing P.darmicornis colonies in 2017.Coral recovery was successful at the Wuzhizhou Island and quickly increased AR complexity.However,the ARs made of metal frames fail to resist the direct attack from a catastrophic typhoon.Therefore,concrete and environmentalfriendly materials should be used in future restoration.This study is the fi rst report on long-term monitoring and assessment of coral reef restoration in China.The results off er future guide of reef restoration for impaired coral reefs in regions easily aff ected by typhoons.
