Transplantation Of Coral Fragments

Abstract

Coral reefs globally are increasingly under threat from environmental and anthropogenic factors, particularly the recent widespread bleaching and mortality of corals due to the temperature anomaly recorded during the 1997/98 El Niño. The active rehabilitation of reefs maybe necessary in some locations. Different rehabilitation methods require development for use in different conditions according to the constraints of area, availability of funding and reasons for rehabilitation. A number of studies have involved transplantation of parts of adult corals at a variety of technical, financial and spatial scales. Methods have included placement of loose staghorn Acropora branches (Bowden-Kirby, 1997; Lindahl, 1998) on suitable substrates, cementing corals to natural substrates using cement or epoxy-type glues, and cementing corals to movable bases (Obura, unpublished data). Transplantation can be used for management purposes in the rehabilitation of reefs (Harriott, 1988), and in conjunction with transplants of wider reef communities (e.g. Muñoz-Chagin, 1997).