Conservation of Coral Reefs through Active Restoration Measures: Recent Approaches and Last Decade Progress
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- 作者：Baruch Rinkevich
- 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
- 出版年：2005
- 出版时间：June 15, 2005
- 年：2005
- 卷：39
- 期：12
- 页码：4333 - 4342
- 全文大小：117K
- 年卷期：v.39,no.12(June 15, 2005)
- ISSN：1520-5851
文摘
The scientific discipline of active restoration of denudedcoral reef areas has drawn much attention in the past decadeas it became evident that this ecosystem does not oftenrecover naturally from anthropogenic stress withoutmanipulation. Essentially, the choices are either the continuousdegradation of the reefs or active restoration to encouragereef development. As a result, worldwide restorationoperations during the past decade have been recognizedas being a major tool for reef rehabilitation. This situationhas also stirred discussions and debates on the variousrestoration measures suggested as management options,supplementary to the traditional conservation acts.The present essay reviews past decade's (1994-2004)approaches and advances in coral reef restoration. Whiledirect coral transplantation is still the primer vehicle ofoperations used, the concept of in situ and ex situ coralnurseries (the gardening concept), where coral materials(nubbins, branches, spats) are maricultured to a size suitablefor transplantation, has been gaining recognition. Theuse of nubbins (down to the size of a single or few polyps)has been suggested and employed as a unique techniquefor mass production of coral colonies. Restoration ofship grounding sites and the use of artificial reefs havebecome common tools for specific restoration needs.Substrate stabilization, 3-D structural consideration ofdeveloping colonies, and the use of molecular/biochemicaltools are part of novel technology approaches developedin the past decade. Economic considerations for reefrestoration have become an important avenue for evaluatingsuccess of restoration activities. It has been suggestedthat landscape restoration and restoration geneticsare important issues to be studied. In the future, as coralreef restoration may become the dominant conservationact, there would be the need not only to develop improvedprotocols but also to define the conceptual bases.