Suggett, David J., Goergen, Elizabeth A., Fraser, Megan, Hein, Margaux Y., Hoot, Whitney, McLeod, Ian, Montoya-Maya, Phanor H., Moore, Tom, Ross, Andrew, and Vardi, Tali (2025) A user’s guide to coral reef restoration terminologies. Coral Reefs, 44. pp. 731-743.

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Abstract

Global coral reef restoration efforts continue to diversify in approach, location, and socio-ecological context. In parallel, vocabulary has evolved such that practitioners, scientists, policy makers, communicators, and investors must navigate an increasingly confusing set of terms that are inconsistently defined. Precision around terms and definitions is an important attribute underpinning the rate and extent with which restoration can scale. However, in contrast with more established ecological restoration fields, coral reef restoration lacks a formal lexicon for its core approaches and processes. Here we synthesize, distill, and clarify a core lexicon proposed for coral reef restoration. We navigate readers systematically through terms used for various coral reef restoration approaches, project planning and intent, process workflows, and biological material. We also consider vague terms commonly used that present challenges to singularly define. While we expect this proposed lexicon to continue to evolve, we offer an important first step toward more integrated communications around coral reef restoration.

Item ID:	85972
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1432-0975
Keywords:	Coral reef restoration, Terminology, Reef recovery, Restoration goals, Coral propagation, Ecological restoration
Copyright Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Date Deposited:	26 Jun 2025 23:05
FoR Codes:	41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410404 Environmental management @ 100%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180206 Rehabilitation or conservation of coastal or estuarine environments @ 100%
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