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      Survivorship and growth in staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) outplanting projects in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

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          Abstract

          Significant population declines in Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata began in the 1970s and now exceed over 90%. The losses were caused by a combination of coral disease and bleaching, with possible contributions from other stressors, including pollution and predation. Reproduction in the wild by fragment regeneration and sexual recruitment is inadequate to offset population declines. Starting in 2007, the Coral Restoration Foundation evaluated the feasibility of outplanting A. cervicornis colonies to reefs in the Florida Keys to restore populations at sites where the species was previously abundant. Reported here are the results of 20 coral outplanting projects with each project defined as a cohort of colonies outplanted at the same time and location. Photogrammetric analysis and in situ monitoring (2007 to 2015) measured survivorship, growth, and condition of 2419 colonies. Survivorship was initially high but generally decreased after two years. Survivorship among projects based on colony counts ranged from 4% to 89% for seven cohorts monitored at least five years. Weibull survival models were used to estimate survivorship beyond the duration of the projects and ranged from approximately 0% to over 35% after five years and 0% to 10% after seven years. Growth rate averaged 10 cm/year during the first two years then plateaued in subsequent years. After four years, approximately one-third of surviving colonies were ≥ 50 cm in maximum diameter. Projects used three to sixteen different genotypes and significant differences did not occur in survivorship, condition, or growth. Restoration times for three reefs were calculated based on NOAA Recovery Plan (NRP) metrics (colony abundance and size) and the findings from projects reported here. Results support NRP conclusions that reducing stressors is required before significant population growth and recovery will occur. Until then, outplanting protects against local extinction and helps to maintain genetic diversity in the wild.

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          Caribbean Corals in Crisis: Record Thermal Stress, Bleaching, and Mortality in 2005

          Background The rising temperature of the world's oceans has become a major threat to coral reefs globally as the severity and frequency of mass coral bleaching and mortality events increase. In 2005, high ocean temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean resulted in the most severe bleaching event ever recorded in the basin. Methodology/Principal Findings Satellite-based tools provided warnings for coral reef managers and scientists, guiding both the timing and location of researchers' field observations as anomalously warm conditions developed and spread across the greater Caribbean region from June to October 2005. Field surveys of bleaching and mortality exceeded prior efforts in detail and extent, and provided a new standard for documenting the effects of bleaching and for testing nowcast and forecast products. Collaborators from 22 countries undertook the most comprehensive documentation of basin-scale bleaching to date and found that over 80% of corals bleached and over 40% died at many sites. The most severe bleaching coincided with waters nearest a western Atlantic warm pool that was centered off the northern end of the Lesser Antilles. Conclusions/Significance Thermal stress during the 2005 event exceeded any observed from the Caribbean in the prior 20 years, and regionally-averaged temperatures were the warmest in over 150 years. Comparison of satellite data against field surveys demonstrated a significant predictive relationship between accumulated heat stress (measured using NOAA Coral Reef Watch's Degree Heating Weeks) and bleaching intensity. This severe, widespread bleaching and mortality will undoubtedly have long-term consequences for reef ecosystems and suggests a troubled future for tropical marine ecosystems under a warming climate.
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            Reproduction by Fragmentation in Corals

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              Shifting paradigms in restoration of the world's coral reefs

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: ValidationRole: VisualizationRole: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Formal analysisRole: MethodologyRole: VisualizationRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Data curationRole: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Data curationRole: InvestigationRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Formal analysisRole: Funding acquisitionRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: ValidationRole: VisualizationRole: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                PLoS ONE
                plos
                plosone
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )
                1932-6203
                6 May 2020
                2020
                : 15
                : 5
                : e0231817
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States of America
                [2 ] Department of Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United States of America
                [3 ] Reef Renewal, LLC, Tavernier, FL, United States of America
                [4 ] Coral Restoration Foundation, Key Largo, FL, United States of America
                [5 ] Marine Program and Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States of America
                [6 ] Marine and Coastal Programs, Dial Cordy and Associates, Miami, FL, United States of America
                [7 ] Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, Nova Southeastern University, Dania Beach, FL, United States of America
                College of William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science, UNITED STATES
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: We have read the journal's policy and Steven Miller may have a competing interest: He is on the board of the Coral Restoration Foundation.

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3251-1759
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3399-6660
                Article
                PONE-D-19-11953
                10.1371/journal.pone.0231817
                7202597
                32374734
                cb05fc94-66b1-4c7e-80d9-ecf7c7e06e53
                © 2020 Ware et al

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 26 April 2019
                : 1 April 2020
                Page count
                Figures: 10, Tables: 4, Pages: 27
                Funding
                An award by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to the Coral Restoration Foundation (to CRF and KN, with financial administration by the Nature Conservancy) funded outplant work in 2012. A partnership with the Nature Conservancy supported work in 2013. NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (NA13NMF4630144: https://coralreef.noaa.gov), NOAA’s Restoration Center ( www.fisheries.noaa.gov/grant/coastal-and-marine-habitat-restoration-grants), and the Coral Restoration Foundation ( www.coralrestoration.org) provided additional funding for this project. A Brian Keller Memorial Fellowship at Nova Southeastern University (cnso.nova.edu/tools-resources/brian-keller-memorial-fellowship.html#loan) to MW supported his Master’s thesis. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decisions to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
                Categories
                Research Article
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Marine Biology
                Coral Reefs
                Earth Sciences
                Marine and Aquatic Sciences
                Marine Biology
                Coral Reefs
                Earth Sciences
                Marine and Aquatic Sciences
                Reefs
                Coral Reefs
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Marine Biology
                Corals
                Earth Sciences
                Marine and Aquatic Sciences
                Marine Biology
                Corals
                People and places
                Geographical locations
                North America
                United States
                Florida
                Earth Sciences
                Marine and Aquatic Sciences
                Reefs
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Evolutionary Biology
                Population Genetics
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Genetics
                Population Genetics
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Population Biology
                Population Genetics
                Physical Sciences
                Chemistry
                Chemical Reactions
                Bleaching
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Conservation Biology
                Conservation Genetics
                Ecology and Environmental Sciences
                Conservation Science
                Conservation Biology
                Conservation Genetics
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Genetics
                Conservation Genetics
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Population Biology
                Population Metrics
                Death Rates
                Custom metadata
                All relevant data are in Dryad: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b3f0142.

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