Abstract Summary
Recent major hurricanes in the Caribbean have emphasized the vulnerability of coastal communities to wave energy from extreme events. Episodic extreme wave energy can not only damage corals (e.g., breakage, overturning) and reef structure (e.g., fractures to reef framework), but also can impact coastal infrastructure near degraded reefs. As coral populations have declined and reef structural complexity has degraded, efforts to implementation and scale-up coral restorations have gained in momentum. Many coral restoration efforts have focused on ecological goals, but few to date have also included the quantitative bio-physical and coastal engineering approaches needed for coastal hazard risk reduction. Successful efforts towards this goal will not only address the normal range of abiotic conditions (e.g., hydrodynamics, temperature), but also need to realistically accommodate some extent of extreme events, particularly in the context of a changing climate. A grey-green infrastructure approach may also need to be considered for implementation. We address potential applications of fluid mechanics, hydrodynamics, and multi-dimensional hydrodynamic models. Here, we provide a decision support framework to increase the potential for successful coral restorations at scales large enough to reduce risk from coastal hazards. Finally, we recommend future directions for scaling-up coral restoration efforts for coastal resilience.
