Abstract Summary
The goal of coral reef restoration is not only to enhance coral populations, but also to recover and sustain the diverse fish communities that rely on reef habitat and ecosystem services. The sequence in which species colonize new habitat is often an important determinant of long-term community structure, with early arriving species either inhibiting or facilitating future colonization; a phenomenon known as priority effects. To date, few studies have focused on understanding the role priority effects play in the long-term assemblage structure of reef dependent species following coral out-planting. By monitoring natural and out-planted coral colonies on reefs in the Upper Florida Keys, our research seeks to answer two key questions related to priority effects and community dynamics of reef-dependent organisms over time: 1) At what rate do fish colonize newly available coral habitat? 2) In what sequence do fish species arrive based on life history stage and functional group? We will address these questions by monitoring natural and out-planted colonies of Acropora cervicornis and tracking the rate and order of colonization over the weeks following out-planting. Here we present our detailed hypotheses and preliminary data from the project, as well as a timeline of research activities over the next year. This research will identify facilitative and inhibitory priority effects in post-restoration coral reef communities, which are applicable to designing future restoration projects to bolster ecosystem recovery.
