Transplanting Coral Fragments in Close Contact Enhances Their Survival and Growth on Seawalls
Accelerated urbanisation has replaced many natural shorelines with coastal defences, resulting in the loss of natural habitats. However, structures such as seawalls can support some biotic assemblages, albeit of lower species richness. Ecological engineering techniques such as coral transplantation...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/12/1377 |
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| author | Yuichi Preslie Kikuzawa Chin Soon Lionel Ng Shu Qin Sam Tai Chong Toh Koh Siang Tan Poh Leong Loo Loke Ming Chou |
| author_facet | Yuichi Preslie Kikuzawa Chin Soon Lionel Ng Shu Qin Sam Tai Chong Toh Koh Siang Tan Poh Leong Loo Loke Ming Chou |
| author_sort | Yuichi Preslie Kikuzawa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Accelerated urbanisation has replaced many natural shorelines with coastal defences, resulting in the loss of natural habitats. However, structures such as seawalls can support some biotic assemblages, albeit of lower species richness. Ecological engineering techniques such as coral transplantation can enhance biodiversity on these artificial structures, but its success is circumscribed by high costs. Little is known about the fusion of discrete coral colonies that could potentially improve coral transplantation success on seawalls, particularly for the slow-growing massive species that are generally well-adapted to living on seawalls. Here, we investigated the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of transplanting <i>Platygyra sinensis</i> on seawalls by comparing the survivability and growth of fragments transplanted adjoining with those transplanted further apart. Fragments (approximately 3 cm diameter; <i>n</i> = 24) derived from three individuals were randomly grouped into two treatments, transplanted at 0.5 cm and 5 cm apart. Fragments in the former treatment came into contact with each other after three months. We observed that in all cases, the contact zones were characterised by a border of raised skeletal ridges without tissue necrosis, often termed nonfusion (=histoincompatible fusion). The adjoining transplants showed better survival (75 vs. 43%) and grew at a rate that was significantly higher than fragments transplanted 5 cm apart (3.7 ± 1.6 vs. 0.6 ± 1.1 cm<sup>2</sup> month<sup>−1</sup>). Our projections demonstrated the possibility of reducing transplantation cost (USD cm<sup>−2</sup>) by 48.3% through nonfusion. These findings present nonfusion as a possible strategy to increase the overall cost-effectiveness of transplanting slow-growing massive species on seawalls. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:47:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1dac169eb83a451fa72b234e970b48f1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1312 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:47:35Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-1dac169eb83a451fa72b234e970b48f12023-11-23T09:02:54ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122021-12-01912137710.3390/jmse9121377Transplanting Coral Fragments in Close Contact Enhances Their Survival and Growth on SeawallsYuichi Preslie Kikuzawa0Chin Soon Lionel Ng1Shu Qin Sam2Tai Chong Toh3Koh Siang Tan4Poh Leong Loo5Loke Ming Chou6Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, 14 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119223, SingaporeTropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, 14 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119223, SingaporeTropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, 14 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119223, SingaporeTropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, 14 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119223, SingaporeTropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, 14 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119223, SingaporeTropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, 14 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119223, SingaporeTropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, 14 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119223, SingaporeAccelerated urbanisation has replaced many natural shorelines with coastal defences, resulting in the loss of natural habitats. However, structures such as seawalls can support some biotic assemblages, albeit of lower species richness. Ecological engineering techniques such as coral transplantation can enhance biodiversity on these artificial structures, but its success is circumscribed by high costs. Little is known about the fusion of discrete coral colonies that could potentially improve coral transplantation success on seawalls, particularly for the slow-growing massive species that are generally well-adapted to living on seawalls. Here, we investigated the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of transplanting <i>Platygyra sinensis</i> on seawalls by comparing the survivability and growth of fragments transplanted adjoining with those transplanted further apart. Fragments (approximately 3 cm diameter; <i>n</i> = 24) derived from three individuals were randomly grouped into two treatments, transplanted at 0.5 cm and 5 cm apart. Fragments in the former treatment came into contact with each other after three months. We observed that in all cases, the contact zones were characterised by a border of raised skeletal ridges without tissue necrosis, often termed nonfusion (=histoincompatible fusion). The adjoining transplants showed better survival (75 vs. 43%) and grew at a rate that was significantly higher than fragments transplanted 5 cm apart (3.7 ± 1.6 vs. 0.6 ± 1.1 cm<sup>2</sup> month<sup>−1</sup>). Our projections demonstrated the possibility of reducing transplantation cost (USD cm<sup>−2</sup>) by 48.3% through nonfusion. These findings present nonfusion as a possible strategy to increase the overall cost-effectiveness of transplanting slow-growing massive species on seawalls.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/12/1377coral transplantationecological engineeringcoral growthcoral survivorshipcontact reactionmassive corals |
| spellingShingle | Yuichi Preslie Kikuzawa Chin Soon Lionel Ng Shu Qin Sam Tai Chong Toh Koh Siang Tan Poh Leong Loo Loke Ming Chou Transplanting Coral Fragments in Close Contact Enhances Their Survival and Growth on Seawalls Journal of Marine Science and Engineering coral transplantation ecological engineering coral growth coral survivorship contact reaction massive corals |
| title | Transplanting Coral Fragments in Close Contact Enhances Their Survival and Growth on Seawalls |
| title_full | Transplanting Coral Fragments in Close Contact Enhances Their Survival and Growth on Seawalls |
| title_fullStr | Transplanting Coral Fragments in Close Contact Enhances Their Survival and Growth on Seawalls |
| title_full_unstemmed | Transplanting Coral Fragments in Close Contact Enhances Their Survival and Growth on Seawalls |
| title_short | Transplanting Coral Fragments in Close Contact Enhances Their Survival and Growth on Seawalls |
| title_sort | transplanting coral fragments in close contact enhances their survival and growth on seawalls |
| topic | coral transplantation ecological engineering coral growth coral survivorship contact reaction massive corals |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/12/1377 |
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