Workshop to Advance the Science and Practice of Coral Restoration

This workshop was held November 15-17, 2016 with the goal of fostering collaboration and technology transfer among coral restoration scientists, practitioners, and managers, and initiating a community of practice that continues to address the evolving role of active coral restoration in the evolutionary history of coral reef ecosystems. The talks cover recent scientific advances in coral biology to help plan and experiment with coral restoration, successes and failures in recent coral restoration projects, and inspiring future research to help advance the practice of coral restoration. The recordings and presentations can be viewed below.

Presentations:

Day 1 – November 15, 2016:

• Taking coral restoration to the ecosystem scale – Tom Moore, NOAA Coral Reef Restoration Program ( opens in a new windowVideo, opens in a new windowPresentation)
• The role of restoration in coral reef ecosystems – Les Kaufman, Boston University ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Valuing social benefits of restoration – Mike Beck, The Nature Conservancy (No Video,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• The scientific foundation for successful coral restoration programs – Bob Richmond, University of Hawaii ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Beyond restoration – intervention ecology – Margaret Miller, NOAA Fisheries Science Center ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• An overview of the use of genetics in coral restoration – Andrew Baker, University of Miami ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Influence of genotype and the environment – Crawford Drury, University of Miami ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Thermal trait selections including symbionts – John Parkinson, Oregon State University ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Phylogenetic tree project overview – Scott Winters, Coral Restoration Foundation (Video,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Using hybridization to aid restoration – Nikki Fogarty, Nova Southeastern University (No Video,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Genetic basis of disease resistance – Steve Vollmer, Northeastern University ( opens in a new windowVideo, No Presentation)
• Disease intervention as a restoration tool – Cheryl Woodley, NOAA/NCCOS ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Interaction of temperature stress and disease resistance – Erin Muller, Mote Marine Laboratory (No Video, No Presentation)

Day 2 – November 16, 2016:

• How can we restore reef resilience at scale? – Dirk Petersen, SECORE (No Video,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Thinking systematically about how we accomplish our day to day restoration work – Andrew Ross, Seascape Caribbean (No Video,  opens in a new windowPresentation)

Scaling up in-water nurseries

• Tracking and management of a large nursery – Jessica Levy, Coral Restoration Foundation – Florida (No Video,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• New variations on commonly used nursery structures
  • Samuel Suleiman, Sociedad Ambiente Marino – Puerto Rico (No Video,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
  • Ken Nedimyer, Coral Restoration Foundation – Florida ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
  • Sean Griffin NOAA, Restoration Center – Puerto Rico ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
  • Tadzio Bervoets, Nature Foundation – St Maarten ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Prevention of storm damage and experiences
  • Elizabeth Larson, Nova Southeastern University – Florida ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
  • Ken Nedimyer, Coral Restoration Foundation – Florida ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Partnerships with resorts and dive operators – Rita Ines Sellares, Dominican Foundation of Marine Studies ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Managing a volunteer workforce
  • Samuel Suleiman, Sociedad Ambiente Marino – Puerto Rico ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
  • Jessica Levy, Coral Restoration Foundation – Florida ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Managing a paid community workforce – Lisa Carne, Fragments of Hope – Belize ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Reducing diver/coral interaction time – Ken Nedimyer, Coral Restoration Foundation – Florida ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)

Land-based nurseries

• Trade-offs and BMPs in nursery design – Keri O’Neil, The Florida Aquarium ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Land-based nurseries as tools for restoration – Scott Graves, The Florida Aquarium ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Quarantine and health management – Cindy Lewis, Keys Marine Lab/Florida International Univ. ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Micro-fragging and re-sheeting – Dave Vaughan, Mote Marine Laboratory (No Video,  opens in a new windowPresentation)

Larval propagation

• Settlement cues for acroporid larvae – Valerie Paul, Smithsonian Institution ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Restoring with cryopreserved gametes – Mary Hagedorn, Smithsonian Institution (No Video, No Presentation)
• Sexual propagation of non-acroporids – Kristen Marhaver, CARMABI – Curaçao (No Video, No Presentation)
• Scaling-up and reducing the costs – Valerie Chamberland, SECORE – Curaçao ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Large scale restoration using sexual recruits – Mark van Koningsveld, Van Oord ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)

Scaling-Up Outplanting: Ideas on current best approaches

• Lisa Carne – Fragments of Hope – Belize ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Ken Nedimyer – Coral Restoration Foundation – Florida ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Hector Ruiz – HJR Reefscaping – Puerto Rico ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Michael Nemeth – NOAA Restoration Center – Puerto Rico ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Austin Bowden-Kerby – Corals for Conservation – Fiji ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Phanor H Montoya Maya – Corales de Paz / Nature Seychelles – Colombia ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Peter Gayle – Discovery Bay Marine Lab – Jamaica ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Gabriela Nava – Oceanus – Mexico ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)

Scaling-Up Outplanting: Ideas to reduce interaction time and increase efficiency

• Ken Nedimyer, Coral Restoration Foundation – Florida ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Victor Manuel Galvan, Punta Cana – Dominican Republic ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Andrew Ross, Seascape Caribbean – Jamaica (No Video, No Presentation)
• Tom Moore, NOAA Restoration Center – Florida ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Anastazia Banaszak, Unversidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Sean Griffin, NOAA Restoration Center – Puerto Rico ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Sean Griffin, NOAA Restoration Center – Puerto Rico ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)

Day 3 – November 17, 2016:

Optimizing restoration site selection

• Current approaches to site selection – Christopher Slade, The Nature Conservancy ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Species distributions and restoration – Shay Viehman, NOAA NCCOS ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Prioritization of restoration sites through modeling and Zonation – Katie Wirt Ames, FL Fish and Wildlife Research Institute ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Larval connectivity modeling and restoration – Joana Figueiredo, Nova Southeastern University (No Video, No Presentation)
• Optimizing for calcification – Ilsa Kuffner, US Geological Survey – Florida ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Using population models – Alex Molina, SAM – University of Puerto Rico ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Using population models – Tali Vardi, NOAA Fisheries ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)

Monitoring for ecosystem recovery

• Review of new, large-area monitoring methods – Stuart Sandin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography ( opens in a new windowVideo, No Presentation)
• Using photo-mosaics to monitor restoration success – Brooke Gintert, University of Miami ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Snorkeler/GPS monitoring of reef-scale trends – Dana Williams, NOAA – SE Fisheries Science Center ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Restoration as fish habitat – Michael Nemeth, NOAA Restoration Center ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Developing programmatic benchmarks – Stephanie Shopmeyer, University of Miami ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)

Next steps

• Integrating restoration practices in the U.S. – Alison Moulding, NOAA Protected Resources ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Overview of coral restoration consortium – Jennifer Moore, NOAA Protected Resources ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)
• Reef managers survey results and reef resilience toolkit – Liz Shaver, Duke University ( opens in a new windowVideo,  opens in a new windowPresentation)

Photo © Coral Restoration Foundation