Testing the effectiveness of direct propagation techniques for coral restoration of Acropora spp

Possible coral restoration through active rehabilitation remains a challenge due to costs, scale of work involved, and poorly understood factors involved in post-transplant survivorship. This latter part remains a technological limitation in all restoration practices to date. In this study, we compared the growth and survivorship of Acropora spp. transplants at two reefs with variable seawater flow rates to determine the success and performance of asexual and sexual propagules using a novel coral restoration device. After 18 months, we found that the mean fragment survivorship did not significantly differ at the two reef sites ( P > 0.05). In contrast, fragment growth was significantly greater at the reef site with faster rates of seawater flow ( P