Corel reef restoration
New approaches and adaptation to a changing climate

Over the past decades, tropical coral reefs, one of Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystems, have experienced global
declines and shifts in species compositions that deeply affect their functioning and services provided. A
turnover from highly three-dimensional hard corals such as Acroporidae to more robust corals, has been
observed worldwide after acute disturbances, such as bleaching events or crown-of-thorns outbreaks. Shifts in
species compositions including decreases in hard corals and increases in non-reef building species such as
algae, sponges and soft corals are also becoming more frequent as a result of continuous anthropogenic and
climate stressors. While fragmentation of corals for restoration of impacted reefs has been carried out in
many locations, climate change, disease events and natural disturbances can impact restoration efforts
and success considerably. Sexual reproduction coupled with targeted settlement of coral larvae allows
new approaches for reef restoration. By choosing spawning colonies which have survived coral bleaching
and by adapting juvenile recruits to increasing temperatures, thermally tolerant explants can be produced
for reef restoration, enabling long term success of restoration efforts.