TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of differential survival patterns in shaping coral communities on neighboring artificial and natural reefs
AU - Perkol-Finkel, Shimrit
AU - Benayahu, Yehuda
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the Interuniversity Institute of Eilat for assistance and use of facilities. We thank the Dolphin Reef of Eilat for allowing the research on their premises. We thank A. Garfunkel for his work with the miniature colonies, and N. Paz for editorial assistance. We acknowledge the Israeli Nature and National Park Protection Authority for cooperation. The study was supported by a grant from the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea (IMELS) under the cooperation program with the Porter School of Environmental Studies (PSES) at Tel Aviv University and in part by The Tobias Landau Foundation. [SS]
PY - 2009/2/14
Y1 - 2009/2/14
N2 - Understanding the processes that shape artificial reef (AR) communities is critical if these are to be implemented for reef restoration or enhancement purposes. A study of the post-recruitment survival of coral colonies transplanted onto a 19-year-old AR and its adjacent natural reef (NR) was carried out at Eilat (Red Sea) in order to test the hypothesis that differences in benthic communities between the two reefs are derived from differential survival processes. Transplanted miniature coral colonies were monitored in situ on both reef types. It was found that the survival of those of the soft coral Dendronephthya hemprichi on the AR was nearly double that of those transplanted onto the NR. Similarly, survival of nubbins of the stony coral Pocillopora damicornis on the AR was over three-fold greater than on the NR. We suggest that the observed differential survival resulted from the unique suites of environmental conditions at the two habitats, mainly in terms of sedimentation load and current velocities, yet not from differences in substratum type (artificial vs. natural). The results demonstrate the role played by survival processes in shaping coral assemblages on ARs and NRs, and indicate that post-recruitment survival must be considered when designing ARs for restoration or enhancement purposes.
AB - Understanding the processes that shape artificial reef (AR) communities is critical if these are to be implemented for reef restoration or enhancement purposes. A study of the post-recruitment survival of coral colonies transplanted onto a 19-year-old AR and its adjacent natural reef (NR) was carried out at Eilat (Red Sea) in order to test the hypothesis that differences in benthic communities between the two reefs are derived from differential survival processes. Transplanted miniature coral colonies were monitored in situ on both reef types. It was found that the survival of those of the soft coral Dendronephthya hemprichi on the AR was nearly double that of those transplanted onto the NR. Similarly, survival of nubbins of the stony coral Pocillopora damicornis on the AR was over three-fold greater than on the NR. We suggest that the observed differential survival resulted from the unique suites of environmental conditions at the two habitats, mainly in terms of sedimentation load and current velocities, yet not from differences in substratum type (artificial vs. natural). The results demonstrate the role played by survival processes in shaping coral assemblages on ARs and NRs, and indicate that post-recruitment survival must be considered when designing ARs for restoration or enhancement purposes.
KW - Coral transplantation
KW - Current velocity
KW - Dendronephthya hemprichi
KW - Miniature colonies
KW - Pocillopora damicornis
KW - Survival
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/58849091709
U2 - 10.1016/j.jembe.2008.09.016
DO - 10.1016/j.jembe.2008.09.016
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AN - SCOPUS:58849091709
SN - 0022-0981
VL - 369
SP - 1
EP - 7
JO - Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
JF - Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
IS - 1
ER -
