 |
| Reef scene with sea rods. Credit:
NOAA |
Scientists at the
National Coral
Reef Institute (NCRI) are currently growing more than 400 corals from
the larval stage as part of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) -funded research, and will
transplant them to restore damaged coral reefs.
Producing juvenile corals from
the larval stage for transplantation is better for the health
and longevity of coral reefs because it produces new coral,
rather than moving around already existing fragments collected
in the field. NCRI is also evaluating this technique to raise
and restore populations of staghorn coral, a species recently
listed by NOAA as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
"NOAA strongly supports research
that will help managers develop new tools to address coral
restoration,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C.
Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and
atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “In this Year of the
Reef (IYOR), such innovative approaches may
provide a new way forward to protecting these valuable
resources.”
NCRI has successfully raised
more than 100 juvenile mustard hill corals, Porites
astreoides, and more than 300 great star corals, Montastraea
cavernosa, both essential species for the development
and growth of coral reefs.
 |
| M. cavernosa recruit at about 3
weeks old. Photo by National Coral Reef Institute
|
According to Alison
Moulding, PhD, NCRI Research Scientist, “P. astreoides is a
brooding species which means that egg fertilization and larval
development occur within the parent colony. Larvae are
released from the coral and are competent to settle almost
immediately. M. cavernosa is a broadcast spawning
species. Eggs and sperm are released from the parent
colonies during an annual spawning event, and thus
fertilization and larval development occur in the water
column.”
 |
| Porites astreoides Photo by
NCRI |
 |
| Porites astreoides at eight
months Photo by NCRI |
She said that they
collected larvae from P. astreoides in May 2007. The larvae settled
onto limestone tiles usually within a few hours to a
day.
NCRI
collected gametes from M. cavernosa colonies in September
2007and mixed the eggs and sperm for fertilization.
Larval development took several days to about a week before
the larvae were competent to settle.
The juvenile corals are being
kept in indoor aquaria at the NCRI facility at the
Nova
Southeastern
University
Oceanographic
Center near
Ft. Lauderdale,
Fla., and then are
relocated to the outdoor coral husbandry system. If the corals
successfully grow large enough in the outdoor system, they
will be transplanted to damaged reefs.
 |
| Alison Moulding, PhD, NCRI
Research Scientist observing corals Photo by
NCRI |
No
sites for transplantation have been selected. Moulding said, “I
would like to target local reefs that have been injured due to
ship groundings. Of course, permits will be required for
this step, and we will work with local resource managers to
find appropriate sites.”
So far the
corals are surviving pretty well according to Moulding.
She reports: “The P. astreoides corals have been growing and
dividing and now form multi-polyp colonies. They are still all
under a centimeter in size (most about 3-7 mm) after about 9
months in the lab. The M.cavernosa corals are still very
tiny (most less than to about 1 mm) after 6 months in the
lab. All of them are still single polyps and have not
begun to divide. They have been growing, though, as some
can now be seen without a microscope.”
“This is a long
process since growth is so slow,” she added. “The corals
likely will not be ready to be transplanted for several
years. This project has been ongoing for less than a
year, and we are still in the learning phase. We plan to
collect larvae and gametes again in 2008 and hope to target
more species in the future.”
“This work is consistent
with NCRI’s mission of providing management related research
output on assessment, monitoring, and especially restoration
of coral reefs. We are proud to be working with NOAA on this
important project,” said Dr. Richard Dodge, executive director
of NCRI.
 |
| Damsel fish and coral. Credit:
NOAA |
Coral reefs, a critical part of
the ocean ecosystem, teem with fish, lobsters, sponges, sea
turtles, and thousands of other creatures that rely on them
for their survival. Coral reefs also are important to the
economy, providing millions of people around the globe with
food, coastal storm protection, and jobs. Nearly a quarter of
the world’s reefs are under imminent risk of collapse from
human pressures, and a fifth have already effectively been
destroyed and show no immediate prospects for recovery.
NOAA is funding this research to
develop tools to help environmental managers address these
issues.
The NOAA, an agency of the U.S.
Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic
security and national safety through the prediction and
research of weather and climate-related events and information
service delivery for transportation, and by providing
environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine
resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation
System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal
partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission
to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated
as the planet it observes, predicts and
protects.
This article is
from a report from NOAA of February 28, 2008 and from
Horizon's correspondence with the National
Coral Reef Institute.
NOAA/NOS is collaborating with
Horizon International on its multimedia and multifaceted coral
reef program Magic Porthole. The program Web page is:
www.magicporthole.org.
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