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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>Greg A. Ward</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>Virginia H. Garrison</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2012</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;In response to dramatic losses of reef-building corals and ongoing lack of recovery, a small-scale coral transplant project was initiated in the Caribbean (U.S. Virgin Islands) in 1999 and was followed for 12 years. The primary objectives were to (1) identify a source of coral colonies for transplantation that would not result in damage to reefs, (2) test the feasibility of transplanting storm-generated coral fragments, and (3) develop a simple, inexpensive method for transplanting fragments that could be conducted by the local community.&amp;nbsp; The ultimate goal was to enhance abundance of threatened reef-building species on local reefs.&amp;nbsp; Storm-produced coral fragments of two threatened reef-building species [&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Acropora palmata&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;and&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;A. cervicornis&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;(Acroporidae)] and another fast-growing species [&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Porites porites&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;(Poritidae)] were collected from environments hostile to coral fragment survival and transplanted to degraded reefs.&amp;nbsp; Inert nylon cable ties were used to attach transplanted coral fragments to dead coral substrate.&amp;nbsp; Survival of 75 reference colonies and 60 transplants was assessed over 12 years. Only 9% of colonies were alive after 12 years: no&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;A. cervicornis&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;; 3% of&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;A. palmata&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;transplants and 18% of reference colonies; and 13% of&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;P. porites&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;transplants and 7% of reference colonies. Mortality rates for all species were high and were similar for transplant and reference colonies. Physical dislodgement resulted in the loss of 56% of colonies, whereas 35% died in place.&amp;nbsp; Only&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;A. palmata&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;showed a difference between transplant and reference colony survival and that was in the first year only.&amp;nbsp; Location was a factor in survival only for&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;A. palmata&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;reference colonies and after year 10.&amp;nbsp; Even though the tested methods and concepts were proven effective in the field over the 12-year study, they do not present a solution. No coral conservation strategy will be effective until underlying intrinsic and/or extrinsic factors driving high mortality rates are understood and mitigated or eliminated. Rev. Biol. Trop. 60 (Suppl. 1): 59-70. Epub 2012 March 01.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.15517/rbt.v60i0.19845</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>Universidad de Costa Rica</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Transplantation of storm-generated coral fragments to enhance Caribbean coral reefs: A successful method but not a solution</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>