2014 Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science of the University of Miami. Assessing techniques to enhance early post-settlement survival of corals in ...
Bull Mar Sci. 90(2):651–664. 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.5343/bms.2013.1020
coral reef paper
Assessing techniques to enhance early post-settlement survival of corals in situ for reef restoration University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149. 1
2 Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, 100 8th Avenue SE, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701.
Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 208 Mueller Laboratory, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802.
3
4 USGS Caribbean Field Station, 1300 Cruz Bay Creek, St. John, US Virgin Islands 00830.
Corresponding author email: .
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Date Submitted: 24 February, 2013. Date Accepted: 12 September, 2013. Available Online: 4 February, 2014.
Wade T Cooper 1, 2 * Diego Lirman 1 Megan Porter VanGroningen 1 John E Parkinson 3 James Herlan 1, 4 John W McManus 1 ABSTRACT.—For degraded coral reef systems with limited larval supply, active restoration techniques may provide a means of replenishing adult coral populations. Settling or seeding large numbers of sexually-produced larvae directly onto denuded substrate is a potential restoration tool that can eliminate the costs associated with rearing coral spat in culturing facilities. However, the long-term potential to enhance recruitment using seeding techniques has generally been limited due to high post-settlement mortality. Using the brooding coral Porites astreoides (Lamarck, 1816), we explored two potential strategies—choosing favorable substrate communities and caging recently settled spat—to enhance early post-settlement survival during seeding efforts. Larvae were collected from adult colonies in the laboratory and, once competent to settle, were seeded directly onto the reef substrate. Settled spat were individually mapped and monitored using fluorescence techniques, and found to have a low survivorship with 20 cm diameter) were collected from Biscayne National Park, Florida (United States), 5 d prior to the new moon during three periods (April 2006, May 2006, and May 2007) when larvae release typically peaks (McGuire 1998). The colonies were transported to a 750-L seawater tank with a flow-through seawater system at the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science (University of Miami). A cone-shaped larval collection device (adapted from Brazeau et al. 1998) was placed over each colony to trap larvae upon release when they swim upwards. Larvae were released from colonies during the night and collected in the morning each day. Once collected, larvae were kept in 10-L containers with UV-sterilized, 1-μm-filtered seawater at concentrations
