Progress report for
Assessing the efficacy of the largest artificial reef structures of Singapore for biodiversity conservation, research test-bedding, and promoting marine environment outreach and education
Achievement at a glance
Regular monitoring of coral enhancement and recruitment is on-going.The transplanted corals showed 85% survivorship, with 1636 surviving from a total of 1933 fragments.
Natural recruitment was also observed 32 months after the structures were deployed, with 56 coral recruits documented. A large majority (82.1%, n = 46) were Pocillopora acuta (46 colonies, or 82% of the recruits), with the remaining recruits from the genera Acropora, Cyphastrea, Montipora, and Tubastraea. Other epifauna have colonised the surfaces, including turf algae, sponges and crustose coralline algae.
A depth-related experiment was carried out for three species of corals (Goniastrea pectinata, Lithophyllon undulatum and Pectinia paeonia) and initial results showed high survivorship (> 94%), but a reduction in areal cover for most of the transplants that were moved to deeper waters.
Monitoring for all components is continuing.
Challenges faced in implementation
-Next Steps
-Beneficiaries
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