Announcement of Special Session at Coral Reef Assessment...Meeting

[Alina Szmant]

SPECIAL SESSION:   INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF CORAL
REEF ASSESSMENT, MONITORING, AND RESTORATION
Fort Lauderdale, FL USA  April 14-16,1999 

ENHANCEMENT OF SEXUAL RECRUITMENT FOR CORAL REEF RESTORATION: IS IT FEASIBLE?

This session will explore topics related to the use of recruitment
enhancement methods to restore coral cover to damaged reefs, using coral
larvae or maricultured corals.  Papers on all aspects of coral sexual
reproduction are appropriate for this session.  Papers on post-settlement
processes and on methods to improve chances of early survivorship of new
settlers are especially solicited.  So little is known about factors
determining the viability of the earliest post-settlement stages that
knowledge in this area is necessary to assess whether recruitment enhancment
approachesare worthwhile compared to propagation using larger colony fragments. 

Background: Our understanding on the sexual reproduction of reef-building
corals has come a long way since mass spawning of reef corals was first
reported for the GBR in 1984, and for Caribbean corals in the early 1990's.
Many groups have learned how to predict the timing of spawning of reef
corals, collect gametes, and raise the larvae to settlement.  This opens the
door for potential coral cover restoration on damaged reefs with cultured
larvae and/or subtrates artificially settled with coral spat.  However, new
coral settlers are small, and have huge hurdles to over come before becoming
viable recruits.  On the other hand asexual propagules derived from colony
fragments have a much greater survivorship, however, some are as that need
restoration do not have sufficiently rich adult coral stocks to serve as
sources of fragments.  Another consideration is that some important
reef-building species are so slow-growing that it would be decades before
any measurable enhancement of coral cover by new recruits could be expected,
and it may be difficult to convince interested parties to invest in a
program with such a long pay-back time.  Finally, it is still not known
whether larval supply, rates of settlement, or unknown factors are the
recruitment limiting; in fact, on many Indo-Pacific reefs, establishment or
recovery of coral populations via sexual recruitment has been very rapid
without human intervention.

If you are interested in participating in this session, please send a title
and brief synopsis of your presentation to: Dr.  Alina M. Szmant, University
of Miami,  email: aszmant at rsmas.miami.edu;  fax: (305)361-4600; tel:
(305)361-4609. 

Complete information about the conference being organized by
NovaUniversity'sNational Coral Reef Institute can be found at:
http://www.nova.edu/ocean/ncri/confinfo_1.htm
**********************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Coral Reef Research Group
RSMAS-MBF
University of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Cswy.
Miami FL 33149

TEL: (305)361-4609
FAX: (305)361-4600 or 361-4005
E-mail:  ASZMANT at RSMAS.MIAMI.EDU
**********************************************