Strengthening Resilience Potential Assessments for Coral Reef Management
Coral reefs are increasingly threatened by various disturbances, making it essential for managers to identify which reefs are more resilient and capable of retaining their biodiversity and ecosystem function. Resilience potential assessments evaluate coral reefs to...Scaling Indigenous-Led Natural Resource Management
Recent studies and the Global Biodiversity Framework underscore the vital role of management initiatives led by Indigenous Peoples (IP) and Local Communities (LC) in achieving conservation goals, addressing climate change, preserving biodiversity, and fostering a more...Past Disturbances and Local Conditions Influence the Recovery Rates of Coral Reefs
With marine heatwaves increasing in frequency and intensity, it is necessary to understand coral recovery post-disturbance. This study examined coral cover recovery rates across 1,921 sites in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans from 1977 to 2020, focusing on...New Global Area Estimates for Coral Reefs from High-Resolution Mapping
High-resolution spatial data on coral reef distribution and composition can help managers and researchers plan marine conservation efforts, better predict climate change impacts, and enhance models for understanding reef health. The Allen Coral Atlas has developed...Seabirds Boost Coral Reef Resilience
Climate change poses a significant threat to coral reefs worldwide, necessitating efforts to identify and promote local conditions that enhance resilience in the short term. While it is known that increased anthropogenic nutrients (from agriculture and waste) diminish...Principles for Climate Resilience are Prevalent in Marine Protected Area Management Plans
Climate change poses challenges for designing and managing marine protected areas (MPAs). The review examined 172 management plans covering 555 MPAs across 52 countries to see how well existing recommendations for creating climate-resilient MPAs are being put into...Advancing Social Equity In and Through Marine Conservation
Several challenges impede marine conservation efforts in promoting social equity, including historical Western-focused conservation models with a top-down approach and insufficient consideration of Indigenous and local needs. Over recent decades, progress has been...Effects of Management Objectives and Rules on Marine Conservation Outcomes
Area-based management for conserving biodiversity is becoming more common, especially to meet global targets like the 30 X 30 initiative. While Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are often set up to protect biodiversity, other types of management established for different purposes may also help achieve conservation goals, such as the case of other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs).
Coral Reefs Benefit from Reduced Land-Sea Impacts Under Ocean Warming
Local human activities and climate-driven marine heatwaves are significantly altering coral reef ecosystems. Managers aiming to increase reef resilience often face challenges in effectively integrating ridge-to-reef initiatives within their plans for coral reef...Navigating Ecological Transformation: Resist–Accept–Direct as a Path to a New Resource Management Paradigm
Historically, natural resource management has focused on preserving or restoring ecosystems to previous baseline conditions. However, intensifying anthropogenic impacts combined with climate change means that it is often no longer possible to restore ecosystems to a...No Apparent Trade-Offs Associated With Heat Tolerance in a Reef-Building Coral
Marine heatwave stress has led to widespread coral bleaching and mortality events. The ability of reef-building corals to withstand this heat stress will be an important trait under natural selection in the coming decades. Selection and propagation of heat-tolerant...Water Quality Thresholds for Coastal Contaminant Impacts on Corals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
To mitigate the impacts of pollutants on coral reef ecosystems, managers require data-driven water quality thresholds. This study conducted a comprehensive review and meta-analysis, assessing the effects of various pollutants, including metals, pesticides (herbicides,...Identifying Correlates of Coral-Reef Fish Biomass on Florida’s Coral Reef to Assess Potential Management Actions
Coral reef ecosystems and reef fish populations worldwide are diminishing due to a combination of factors, including overfishing, climate change, deteriorating water quality, habitat destruction, and decreasing reef complexity. When weighing various management...Integrated Watershed Management Solutions for Healthy Coastal Ecosystems and People
Human activities in coastal regions, such as mining, farming, urbanization, and waste disposal, deteriorate water quality in nearby watersheds, negatively impacting downstream coastal ecosystems like coral reefs. This compromised water quality in turn affects human...Rapid Ecosystem-Scale Consequences of Acute Deoxygenation on a Caribbean Coral Reef
This study revealed that an acute deoxygenation event on a Caribbean coral reef rapidly altered the benthic community composition and microbial assemblage present. The deoxygenation event led to significant consequences, including coral bleaching, tissue loss, and...Transformation of Coral Communities Subjected to an Unprecedented Heatwave is Modulated By Local Disturbance
This study assessed the coral community composition, bleaching, and mortality across a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance levels before, during, and after a prolonged heatwave during the 2015-2016 El Niño event on Kiritimati’s coral reefs. The year-long heatwave...A low-tech method for monitoring survival and growth of coral transplants at a boutique restoration site
Coral reef restoration projects are becoming a popular corporate environmental responsibility activity at hotel resorts. This paper presents a simple monitoring method that hotel staff can conduct without scientific training to measure the success or failure of their...Palau’s Warmest Reefs Harbor Thermally Tolerant Corals That Thrive Across Different Habitats
Coral reefs are at risk due to coral bleaching caused by warming ocean temperatures and extreme heat waves, but certain coral populations exhibit tolerance to elevated temperatures. In Palau, corals within the Rock Islands experience consistently higher temperatures...A Roadmap to Integrating Resilience into the Practice of Coral Reef Restoration
Integrating Resilience into Coral Reef Restoration
