[Coral-List] Is coral reef restoration like heart disease treatment?

Mon Sep 9 21:40:39 UTC 2019

Elizabeth
The United Nations declared 2021–2030 the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and it "aims to massively scale up the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems as a proven measure to fight the climate crisis and enhance food security, water supply and biodiversity"
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1182090/icode/

Rather than a heart disease treatment, I use the analogy of a patient in cardiac arrest. Restoration ecology, if done correctly,  is the defibrillator that jump starts the system.
As in other ecosystem restoration efforts, in coral reef restoration, only science based projects, with well defined goals, hypothesis testing, procedures and monitoring have shown any success.

Scientists working in coral reef restoration are well aware that we have to work on multiple solutions at the same time: conservation, restoration, CO2 emissions, etc.
However, the hype in today's media often exaggerates what can be accomplished with any single solution, even when the scientists doing the interview have repeatedly warned of the limitations of their own research.

This is an opportunity for scientists and journalists to work together, so reporting on any progress done in the coral reef space is done at the appropriate scale.
We can then leave exaggeration to the Kardashians.

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Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D.
Twitter: @GrouperDoc
Science Blog: https://grouperluna.com/
Art Blog: https://oceanbestiary.com/

________________________________
From: Elizabeth Sherman <sherman at bennington.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 9, 2019 5:23 PM
To: Martin Moe <martin_moe at yahoo.com>
Cc: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>; Sarah Frias-Torres <sfrias_torres at hotmail.com>
Subject: Is coral reef restoration like heart disease treatment?

Hi coral reefers
I wonder about the efficacy/desirability of coral reef restoration activities. Now don't jump down my throat, this is a question not a position. This is my analogy. A cigarette smoker with heart disease is about to die because his coronary arteries are blocked. The surgeon goes in and roto-rooters the patient's arteries or does a by-pass, and the patient's heart recovers and he doesn't die. But he continues to smoke so the brand new arteries just clog right back up. Yes, we should keep the patient alive (reef restoration) and of course, reef restoration does not preclude other interventions, like decreasing CO2 emissions, setting aside MPAs, limiting fishing, curtailing sediment and sewage input, etc., but...Does it give us a false sense that this is going to save reefs?  I don't know. And, as others have pointed out, the media reporting on what is important in reef conservation may not be the emphasis that scientists have.

Elizabeth

On Mon, Sep 9, 2019 at 9:30 AM Martin Moe via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov<mailto:coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>> wrote:

Sarah,as you know, I have a strong interest in coral reef restoration. I’m not surethat what we can do, given the restraints we face, will change or ameliorate thefuture of coral reefs, but we must do all that we can to preserve all that wecan for hopefully an environmentally sustainable future for our planet. One thingthat worries me is that we seem to be regarding a coral reef... as a coralreef. Our coral reefs are not just coral reefs, they are coral reef ecosystems.If we just stick coral frags back into a failed ecosystem, how can we expect thesefrags to generate new and vibrant coral reefs? Not that that shouldn't be done, but there must also be some efforts to restore the ecology of a coral reef, at least some effort to identify the “keystone”species that make a coral reef an ecosystem. I’m sure that there has been agreat deal of research done on the components of a coral reef ecosystem but Idon’t see much attention paid to this in the efforts that have been mounted to restorecoral reefs.One of the most critical ecological functions on our tropical westernAtlantic coral reefs is herbivory. And a good possibility for the restorationof herbivory is the restoration to ecological functionality of the keystone herbivore,the Diadema antillarum sea urchin. I worked on the mass culture of Diadema for15 years through three generations and developed the basis for a functional culture system. It is noteasy but it can be done. The Florida Aquarium Center for Conservation hasrecently been successful in spawning and rearing larvae through to earlyjuveniles. And there are other efforts underway as well. I will soon have aDiadema culture manual completed that I hope will help other efforts to workwith ecological restoration as well coral restoration.
Martin
    On Friday, September 6, 2019, 09:57:17 AM EDT, Sarah Frias-Torres via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov<mailto:coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>> wrote:

 We invite you to submit abstracts for:

Session 4: "What methods and techniques can upscale coral reef restoration?"

Under theme 13: Interventions and restoration

http://www.icrs2020.de/program/session-program/#c245

We welcome abstract submissions until the extended deadline of September 15, 2019.

Session Description:

As coral reefs continue to decline worldwide, combining traditional conservation

with active restoration is essential to support resilience in these threatened ecosystems.
This session will focus both on success stories and strategies for upscaling restoration:
to mass-produce bleaching-resistant reef building corals for transplantation onto degraded
reefs at the scale of hectares rather than square meters. All methods of mass coral production
(Propagation of sexual recruits, asexual propagation by fragmentation and microfragmenting)
and transplantation will be considered, including the use of new technologies and automation.
Specifically we expect presentations quantifying restoration success including:
before-after-control studies of restoration impacts on benthic and fish communities,
coral genomics, restoration to dissipate high energy in coastal environments, demographic
monitoring in site selection, development of self sustaining thickets, engagement and participation
of marginalized base communities, and case studies linking managers priorities with restoration
and vice versa.

Abstract submissions:
http://www.icrs2020.de/program/call-for-abstracts/

The Session Organizers

Chair: Sarah Frias-Torres, Vulcan Inc. (Seattle, WA, USA)

Co-Chair: Tom Moore, NOAA, USA

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Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D.
Twitter: @GrouperDoc
Science Blog: https://grouperluna.com/
Art Blog: https://oceanbestiary.com/

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--
Elizabeth Sherman, Ph.D.
Biology
Bennington College
website: http://faculty.bennington.edu/~sherman/
Save the world. Save a Coral.