A systematic review of artificial reefs as platforms for coral reef research and conservation.
Artificial reefs (ARs) have been used on coral reefs for ecological research, conservation, and socio-cultural purposes since the 1980s. We examined spatio-temporal patterns in AR deployment in tropical and subtropical coral reefs (up to 35° latitude) and evaluated their efficacy in meeting conserva...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:1b3494e16b2b4fc1baeb8bc0e960d76f 2023-05-15T17:36:16+02:00 A systematic review of artificial reefs as platforms for coral reef research and conservation. Emily Higgins Anna Metaxas Robert E Scheibling 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261964 https://doaj.org/article/1b3494e16b2b4fc1baeb8bc0e960d76f EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261964 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0261964 https://doaj.org/article/1b3494e16b2b4fc1baeb8bc0e960d76f PLoS ONE, Vol 17, Iss 1, p e0261964 (2022) Medicine R Science Q article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261964 2022-12-31T03:45:24Z Artificial reefs (ARs) have been used on coral reefs for ecological research, conservation, and socio-cultural purposes since the 1980s. We examined spatio-temporal patterns in AR deployment in tropical and subtropical coral reefs (up to 35° latitude) and evaluated their efficacy in meeting conservation objectives, using a systematic review of the scientific literature. Most deployments (136 studies) were in the North Atlantic and Central Indo-Pacific in 1980s - 2000s, with a pronounced shift to the Western Indo-Pacific in 2010s. Use of ARs in reef restoration or stressor mitigation increased markedly in response to accelerating coral decline over the last 2 decades. Studies that evaluated success in meeting conservation objectives (n = 51) commonly reported increasing fish abundance (55%), enhancing habitat quantity (31%) or coral cover (27%), and conserving target species (24%). Other objectives included stressor mitigation (22%), provision of coral nursery habitat (14%) or source populations (2%) and addressing socio-cultural and economic values (16%). Fish (55% of studies) and coral (53%) were the most commonly monitored taxa. Success in achieving conservation objectives was reported in 33 studies. Success rates were highest for provision of nursery habitat and increasing coral cover (each 71%). Increasing fish abundance or habitat quantity, mitigating environmental impacts, and attaining socio-cultural objectives were moderately successful (60-64%); conservation of target species was the least successful (42%). Failure in achieving objectives commonly was attributed to poor AR design or disruption by large-scale bleaching events. The scale of ARs generally was too small (m2 -10s m2) to address regional losses in coral cover, and study duration too short (< 5 years) to adequately assess ecologically relevant trends in coral cover and community composition. ARs are mostly likely to aid in reef conservation and restoration by providing nursery habitat for target species or recruitment substrate for corals ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Pacific PLOS ONE 17 1 e0261964 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Emily Higgins Anna Metaxas Robert E Scheibling A systematic review of artificial reefs as platforms for coral reef research and conservation. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Artificial reefs (ARs) have been used on coral reefs for ecological research, conservation, and socio-cultural purposes since the 1980s. We examined spatio-temporal patterns in AR deployment in tropical and subtropical coral reefs (up to 35° latitude) and evaluated their efficacy in meeting conservation objectives, using a systematic review of the scientific literature. Most deployments (136 studies) were in the North Atlantic and Central Indo-Pacific in 1980s - 2000s, with a pronounced shift to the Western Indo-Pacific in 2010s. Use of ARs in reef restoration or stressor mitigation increased markedly in response to accelerating coral decline over the last 2 decades. Studies that evaluated success in meeting conservation objectives (n = 51) commonly reported increasing fish abundance (55%), enhancing habitat quantity (31%) or coral cover (27%), and conserving target species (24%). Other objectives included stressor mitigation (22%), provision of coral nursery habitat (14%) or source populations (2%) and addressing socio-cultural and economic values (16%). Fish (55% of studies) and coral (53%) were the most commonly monitored taxa. Success in achieving conservation objectives was reported in 33 studies. Success rates were highest for provision of nursery habitat and increasing coral cover (each 71%). Increasing fish abundance or habitat quantity, mitigating environmental impacts, and attaining socio-cultural objectives were moderately successful (60-64%); conservation of target species was the least successful (42%). Failure in achieving objectives commonly was attributed to poor AR design or disruption by large-scale bleaching events. The scale of ARs generally was too small (m2 -10s m2) to address regional losses in coral cover, and study duration too short (< 5 years) to adequately assess ecologically relevant trends in coral cover and community composition. ARs are mostly likely to aid in reef conservation and restoration by providing nursery habitat for target species or recruitment substrate for corals ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Emily Higgins Anna Metaxas Robert E Scheibling |
author_facet |
Emily Higgins Anna Metaxas Robert E Scheibling |
author_sort |
Emily Higgins |
title |
A systematic review of artificial reefs as platforms for coral reef research and conservation. |
title_short |
A systematic review of artificial reefs as platforms for coral reef research and conservation. |
title_full |
A systematic review of artificial reefs as platforms for coral reef research and conservation. |
title_fullStr |
A systematic review of artificial reefs as platforms for coral reef research and conservation. |
title_full_unstemmed |
A systematic review of artificial reefs as platforms for coral reef research and conservation. |
title_sort |
systematic review of artificial reefs as platforms for coral reef research and conservation. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261964 https://doaj.org/article/1b3494e16b2b4fc1baeb8bc0e960d76f |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 17, Iss 1, p e0261964 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261964 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0261964 https://doaj.org/article/1b3494e16b2b4fc1baeb8bc0e960d76f |
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261964 |
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PLOS ONE |
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17 |
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container_start_page |
e0261964 |
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