Abstract: Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) was once among the most abundant and commercially important reef fish species in the Caribbean region. Overextraction at their fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) has contributed significantly to dramatic regionwide declines in their populations, resulting in widespread local extirpations, nominal presence in catch composition and...
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Abstract: High mortality of juvenile corals hinder both the natural recovery of populations and the successful implementation of restoration efforts. Grazing is a significant cause of juvenile coral mortality, and grazer exclusion devices have been shown to increase juvenile coral survivorship. However, most experiments have used cages that typically...
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Abstract: Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is the deadliest scleractinian coral disease reported, causing signiƤcant coral loss in the Western Atlantic reefs. Environmental conditions are known to inƪuence disease dynamics, but determining the speciƤc conditions that exacerbate SCTLD remains challenging. We developed a robotic multi-stressor system to study...
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Abstract: Coral reefs are valuable ecosystems that provide diverse ecosystem services to people. For example, many reefs have exceptionally high tourism value, attracting visitors to experience their ecologically and visually rich reef habitat. However, human-induced degradation can alter ecosystem services, such as when damaged reefs lose their visual appeal....
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Abstract: Coral reef managers require various forms of data. While monitoring is typically the preserve of scientists, there is an increasing need to collect larger scale, up-to-date data to prioritise limited conservation resources. Citizen science combined with novel technology may achieve data collection at the required scale, but the...
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Abstract: As an era of signi cant environmental and societal transformations, forecasting the future entails considerable uncertainty. This article gives a perspective on calcifying organisms capable of adapting to a warmer and more acidic ocean, which may also contribute to future reef construction. While it is challenging to conceive, we...
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Abstract: On inshore coral reefs, coral cover declines from disturbances are often accompanied by increases in macroalgal cover. Thus, coral recovery often occurs against a backdrop of elevated macroalgae cover. While ‘macroalgae’ are generally assumed to reduce coral recruitment, their taxonomic composition and structure vary considerably. Here, we test...
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Abstract: As global reef degradation continues, researchers and managers are increasingly adopting active restoration and ecological engineering approaches to mitigate coral loss and support recovery. One of the most widely used coral restoration methods is “coral gardening”, which involves collecting small coral fragments, cultivating them in mid-water oating nurseries,...
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Abstract: Most studies on microplastics (MPs) in corals have relied on aquarium experiments, with limited eld-based data available for many reef regions. This highlights a gap in in situ studies of microplastics in keystone corals, particularly along the tropical southwest Atlantic coast. Therefore, establishing a database on microplastics in corals is...
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Abstract: Quantitatively assessing mortality post coral bleaching at scale is inherently difficult, yet can be achieved with georeferenced imagery from aerial drones. Here, we assess the coral bleaching mortality rate from the 2024 global bleaching event at the iconic Lizard Island, Australia. Using drone-derived orthomosaics of the northern and...
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