Coral Gardening - Nursery Phase — Cousin Island Special Reserve

OPP-8ZAEQ2permanent identifier · cite as oceanportfolio.org/p/OPP-8ZAEQ2

Published as: Testing animal-assisted cleaning prior to transplantation in coral reef restoration. | Technique: Coral Gardening - Nursery Phase | Disturbance addressed: General degradation | Genera: Acropora, Pocillopora | Method: Testing animal-assisted cleaning on nursery corals prior to transplantation. Cleaning stations consisting of nursery ropes carrying corals and biofouling organisms, set at 0.3 m, 2 m, 4 m, 6 m and 8 m from the seabed, were placed at both the transplantation (treatment) site and the nursery (control) site. Remote GoPro video cameras recorded fish feeding at the nursery ropes without human disturbance. | Authors' conclusion: A reef fish assemblage of 32 species from 4 trophic levels (18.8% herbivores, 18.8% omnivores, 59.3% secondary consumers and 3.1% carnivores) consumed 95% of the barnacles on the coral nursery ropes placed 0.3 m above the seabed. Using this cleaning station, coral dislodgement was reduced from 16% to zero. | Lessons reported: This cleaning station technique could be included as a step prior to coral transplantation on the basis of location specific fish assemblages and during the early nursery phase of sexually produced juvenile corals. | This record was compiled from a published source and has not been confirmed by the organisation that carried out the work. No contribution to the condition index is recorded: the source reports survival of transplanted material, which is not a measure of ecosystem condition.

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