Abstract Summary
Coral reefs in Florida and the Caribbean have faced significant declines for the last 30 years. In recent years, coral restoration practices have focused on a limited number of species, chiefly Acropora cervicornis, and there is a growing need to add mounding and boulder corals to a multi-species restoration framework that resembles the natural landscape more closely. Once outplanted, small corals face space competition from faster-growing components of the benthic community like Palythoa caribaeaorum and macroalgae. Here, we quantify the impacts of such competition for space and evaluate whether maintenance (i.e., regular removal of space competitors) can enhance coral survivorship and growth. We outplanted fragments (max diameter 8cm – 18cm) of Montastraea cavernosa and Orbicella faveolata along with colonies of nursery-grown Acropora cervicornis onto a Florida reef. Colonies of each species were divided into four treatments: 1) corals outplanted in contact with macroalgae (no future maintenance), 2) corals outplanted in contact with Palythoa and macroalgae (no future maintenance), 3) corals outplanted without initial contact with Palythoa and macroalgae (15 cm radius area around coral cleaned using a wire brush at the time of deployment only); and 4) corals outplanted without contact with Palythoa and macroalgae (15 cm radius area around coral cleaned monthly). The corals were monitored monthly for 1 year and survivorship and growth determined using photographs and field measurements. Initial analyses indicate that the frequent removal of space competitors showed limited effects on coral growth and survivorship and that physical factors such as temperature may have a larger influence on coral growth than active maintenance.
