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Marine Animal Forests pp 1–23Cite as

Restoration of the Animal Forests: Harnessing Silviculture Biodiversity Concepts for Coral Transplantation

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Abstract

Coral reefs and rain forests are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems on earth, sharing numerous ecological and functional properties. Decades of anthropogenic activities and the overexploitation of reef/forest resources have led to a worldwide rapid degradation of both ecosystems, threatening the continued function of these habitats and their ability to provide numerous goods and services. Inspired by silviculture, an emerging approach to reef restoration is the gardening coral reefs tenet, in which numerous new coral colonies are farmed in situ in mid-water coral nurseries and are subsequently available for transplantation on degraded reefs. As in forestation, transplantation of corals can be used as a sustainable tool that carries ecological engineering benefits, such as the reconstruction of rehabilitated coral reefs with a particular coral coverage and associated species’ compositions, increased rugosity (3-d structural complexity), and enhanced biodiversity.

Forest restoration initiatives have been underway for over a century, leading to the development of consolidated silviculture rationales. In contrast, many theoretical aspects have yet to be elucidated in the newly emergent discipline of active reef restoration. Due to the numerous similarities between coral reef and forest ecosystems, as well as between their restoration approaches, insights regarding the use of tree plantations for forest restoration could substantially advance the restoration of coral reefs. Here, we synthesize recent advances in farmed coral transplantation and discuss the influence of active reef restoration on biodiversity outcomes. We particularly focus on diversity estimates at the population genetics, species, and ecosystem levels, consulting forest restoration literature for rationales, tools, and recommendations that can be harnessed in the gardening approach for active reef restoration.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the AID-MERC (TA-MOU-13-M33-001) project and by the NAF/JNF join funding. The study fulfills part of the requirements for the doctoral degree of Y.B.H.F. at the University of Haifa. The authors wish to thank Guy Paz for his assistance with graphics, Gidi Levy for the provision of photographs d-f of Fig. 1, and Prof. Naomi Ori for her hospitality during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Tel-Shikmona, Haifa, 31080, Israel

    Yael B. Horoszowski-Fridman & Baruch Rinkevich

  2. Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa, Haifa, 31905, Israel

    Yael B. Horoszowski-Fridman

Authors
  1. Yael B. Horoszowski-Fridman
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  2. Baruch Rinkevich
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yael B. Horoszowski-Fridman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Environmental Science & Technology Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Sergio Rossi

  2. LECOB / Ocean Observatory, CNRS / Pierre and Marie Curie Univ, Banyuls-sur-mer, France

    Lorenzo Bramanti

  3. Dept. Marine Biology & Oceanography, Institute of Marine Sciences, Barcelona, Spain

    Andrea Gori

  4. Spanish Institute of Oceanography, Balearic Oceanographic Centre, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    Covadonga Orejas

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Horoszowski-Fridman, Y.B., Rinkevich, B. (2016). Restoration of the Animal Forests: Harnessing Silviculture Biodiversity Concepts for Coral Transplantation. In: Rossi, S., Bramanti, L., Gori, A., Orejas , C. (eds) Marine Animal Forests. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17001-5_36-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17001-5_36-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-17001-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-17001-5

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