Abstract Summary
Global warming, and the resultant coral bleaching events, are now considered the greatest threat to the long-term sustainability of coral reefs. Alongside the challenge of mitigating globally driven change is the potential for cumulative and synergistic impacts of local stressors such as run-off, pollution, and eutrophication in local areas. These cumulative threats are linked to high coral mortality, emergence of new diseases, reduced coral growth, reproduction, and recruitment. To ensure degraded marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, continue to survive and overcome future environmental challenges, conservation efforts coupled with local-scale restoration efforts need to be prioritised in regions where the organisms they support are identified as having the greatest capacity to continue to deliver important ecosystem goods and services. Australia is currently in the preliminary stages of developing coral reef restoration practices within the world heritage listed Marine Park. It is essential to determine how these efforts can couple with existing conservation and management practices to best ensure the future sustainability of the GBR. Whilst some coral restoration programs have been successful, coral mortality following out-planting remains very high following corals being returned to the reef this rapid loss of coral is one of the greatest constraints to reef restoration success. Understanding the underlying biological causes and environmental drivers of high mortality in restoration programs, and determining the risk they cause to adjacent natural reef systems, provides a means by which to develop optimal strategies that can support coral survival, and improve the feasibility of restoration efforts within Australia’s GBR Marine Park. We are partnering with long-term coral reef restoration world-wide, Australia’s leading coral reef research foundation The Great Barrier Reef Foundation, U.S. based UBIOME affiliated research support program, Bioplatforms Australia, and Opal Reef, to undertake a world-wide coral health assessment following transplantation of corals for restoration. Specifically, we aim to develop an integrated SmartReefs program which will determine the out- planting practices associated with coral mortality in restoration programs, develop a coral health monitoring program, and provide best practice policy advice for minimising risk in reef restoration within the GBR Marine Park.
