Whitman, Taylor N., Jurriaans, Saskia, Lefevre, Carine, Sims, Carrie A., Radford, Ben, Puotinen, Marji, Hoogenboom, Mia O., Negri, Andrew P., and Randall, Carly J. (2025) Seeded Acropora digitifera corals survive best on wave-exposed reefs with grazing from small fishes. Restoration Ecology, 33 (4). e70016.

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Abstract

Coral seeding is a restoration technique developed to replenish degraded reefs; however, grazing by herbivorous fish can impede coral survival post deployment. To investigate the impacts of hydrodynamics and fish grazing on seeded-coral survival, we deployed aquaria-reared Acropora digitifera spat on engineered-seeding devices across 10 sites spanning a wave-energy gradient at Moore Reef (Great Barrier Reef, Australia). Two devices were used to investigate the role of grazing: a fish-exclusion device and a featureless control. After 1 year, over 60% of devices had live corals. High-energy sites had 83–91% yield (i.e., device-level survival) and three times more survivors than low-energy sites. Exclusion devices significantly improved survival at moderate-to-low flow sites where excavating parrotfish were abundant. Survival was also influenced by the biological characteristics of the site, with more survivors at sites with Labrids (Thalassoma, Gomphosus), Acanthurids (Acanthurus, Zebrasoma), Blennids (Cirripectes), encrusting non-Acropora Scleractinian corals, coralline algae, and ascidians. Our study demonstrates that wave energy, fish activity, and benthic constituents all impact coral survival after seeding. Assessing potential sites for positive drivers of survival prior to deployment could improve the efficacy of coral seeding.

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