Coral reef restoration
Coral reefs are important buffers between the land and water and help to reduce storm damage and coastal erosion.
[6] In order to ensure the existence of coral reefs in the future, new methods for restoring their ecosystems are being investigated.
Marine pollution from sunscreens, paints, and inland mining can introduce chemicals that are toxic to corals, leading to their decay.
With changes happening on coastal lands such as deforestation, mining, and farm soil tiling and erosion, much more sediments are entering the water column.
Additionally, increased CO2 emissions from human activities such as fossil fuel burning can effect the acidity of ocean waters.
[11] The rising global temperature is a consequence of releasing high amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
A study showed that about 655 million people live close to coral reefs, accounting for 91% of the world's population who are part of developed countries such as The United States of America, the Middle East and China.
The same study also revealed that of the 655 million people, 75% of the population living in close proximity to coral reefs are from poorly developing countries and even though these low-developing countries depend on the coral reef ecosystem they only contribute to a small fraction of greenhouse emissions.
Ocean-based nurseries involve growing coral fragments underwater, attaching them to steel structures and monitoring their growth for 6–12 months until they reach maturity.
Additionally, growing corals on land protect them from changing temperatures, predators, and other problems that can interfere with the restoration process.
[17] This allows researchers to move forward with restoration projects with minimal impact, if any at all, on the growth rate or survivorship of the original colony.
[18] Initial mortality of fixed structure nurseries is also likely dependent on the time of year that the corals are transplanted.
[20] Low cost and availability of materials to create these coral trees make them an ideal method for propagation.
Tanks filled with circulating sea water provide an artificial place for coral seedlings to grow.
[21] These pieces are then affixed to a ceramic or cement base called a plug and placed in land nursery tanks.
Rather than waiting decades for a coral to grow to a robust size, months are needed to see viable specimen.
These heal quickly by expanding their size radially outward, colonizing their plugs and eventual out-planting sites in the ocean.
[21] Recent work has been attempting to trigger coral spawning in the nursery environment by mimicking these environmental controls.
Instead, restoration strategies should be used to aid natural recovery in the re-establishment of a larger genetic pool of a species of coral.
Not only do these repositories serve as a method for recovery, but they can also greatly enhance the genetic pool of isolated populations of corals.
[19] One study found used an Acropora cervicornis nursery as a repository after an extreme cold-water event occurred that wiped out roughly 43% of its population in the area.
Coral gardening also offers indirect benefits, like the rapid creation of new fish and invertebrate habitat on depleted reefs.
