• In mid-August, Dr. Austin Bowden-Kerby traveled to Moorea, French Polynesia and guided the Coral Gardeners on how to upgrade their coral gardening work to be more effective in the face of the changing climate and warming seas.

  • This trip follows on the heels of a mass coral bleaching event that killed an estimated 40-50% of the corals on Moorea in March through June of this year. 

  • The Acropora corals, formerly dominant on the reefs of Moorea, have become increasingly rare, a worrying trend repeating itself on many reefs throughout the Pacific.

• The workshop training included the creation of a gene bank nursery of bleaching-resistant Acropora corals, with rope culture of staghorn and digitate species, micro-fragment "garlands" of table Acropora species, which is a new method specifically developed for this growth-form, and cement 'cookies' used to cultivate larger mother colonies of digitate and table forms for regular trimming to produce micro-fragments for outplanting. A-frame methods for growing staghorn corals to help avoid Stegastes damselfish and predatory snails were also taught. 

• Corals for Conservation is based in Fiji and holds several coral restoration workshops throughout the year, sharing knowledge about advanced coral restoration ecology, coral nursery, and out-planting methods, with 42 trained in the past year, and with several coral gardeners placed at resorts as a new profession, helping coral reefs adapt to climate change.  

• The next international Corals for Conservation workshop, Coral Gardening for Climate Change Adaptation, will be held from Sep. 23 - Oct. 4, 2019 in Fiji. The course will be repeated in early February, 2020.

Hello CRC Community! 
 

Save the Date for the next REEF FUTURES CONFERENCE 2021 from 

May 17 to 21, 2021 to be held at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, FL!

Stay tuned for more details. Conference website coming soon!


 

CRC Working Group Calls:

• Larval Propagation Working Group stakeholder update- Thursday, November 14, 2019 at 2pm (EST).

CRC ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The CRC is looking for a new Chair/Co-Chair for the Field-based Propagation Working Group! The CRC would like to thank Meaghan Johnson for her leadership and commitment as the Chair of the Working Group and wish her the best in her new position! Email coral.restoration@noaa.gov for more details on how to apply for the Field-based Working Group Chair leadership position. 
   

• The CRC is also looking for a new Chair/Co-Chair for the Land-based Propagation Working Group! Email coral.restoration@noaa.gov for more details on how to apply for the Land-based Working Group Chair leadership position.

PARTNER ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Numerous CRC Partners will be chairing sessions in ICRS Theme 13, submit your abstracts by September 15.

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENTS

• CIMAS Assistant Scientist for eDNA research at University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division.

• Master of Philosophy at the University of Belize. This is a thesis-focused program where students will research about reef ecology, invertebrate biology & reproduction, geology, conservation, data analysis and scientific writing.

• Coral Reef Mapping Research Officer Position with the Remote Sensing Research Centre at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Please contact Dr. Emma Kennedy (e.kennedy1@uq.edu.au) and Dr Chris Roelfsema (c.roelfsema@uq.edu.au), for further details and to submit your expression of interest. 

• An Early-Stage Researcher (w/m/d) (ESR) Position is available at The Leibniz Centre in Bremen, Germany for Tropical Marine Research as part of the EU-funded MSCA ETN ‘4D-REEF.’ Start date is October/ November 2019. For additional information please contact: Sebastian Ferse (sebastian.ferse@leibniz-zmt.de).

• Diadema Biologist 1 Position (part-time) for 12 months with the Center for Conservation at The Florida Aquarium (Apollo Beach, FL).

UPCOMING MEETINGS: 

2019

• Sep 9-13 (Berlin, Germany): 5th Young Earth Scientists Network (YES) Congress 2019.  

• Sep 24-28 (Cape Town, South Africa): 8th World Conference on Ecological Restoration (SER).

• Sep 30-Oct 3 (Berlin, Germany): Wildlife Research and Conservation 2019 (WRC2019) 

• Oct 8-10 (Belize City): Second Biennial Meeting of the MAR Reef Restoration Network. 

• Nov 3-7 (Alabama. U.S.): 25th Biennial Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Conference. 

• Nov 4-Nov 8 (Dominican Republic): 72nd Annual conference of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute.

• Nov 30 - Dec 8 (Magoodhoo Island, Faafu Atoll, Maldives): Maldivian Coral Reef Restoration Workshop.

• Dec 2-7 (Townsville, Australia) : ICRI General Meeting 34. 

• Dec 14 (London, U.K.): Reef Conservation UK.

2020

• Feb 9-12 (Honolulu, Hawaii): Aquaculture America 2020.

• Feb 16-21 (San Diego, CA): Ocean Sciences Meeting.

• June 11-19 (Marseille, France) : IUCN World Conservation Congress. 

• Jul 5-10 (Bremen, Germany): 14th International Coral Reef Symposium. 

• Aug 24-27 (Kiel, Germany): 6th International Marine Conservation Congress. 

2021

• May 17-21 (Key Largo, FL): Reef Futures Conference 2021.

SEPTEMBER 2019 MEDIA ROUNDUP 

Research:

• Barton, J., Hutson, K. S., Bourne, D., Humphrey, C., Dybala, C., & Rawlinson, K. A. (2019). The life cycle of the Acropora coral-eating flatworm (AEFW), Prosthiostomum acroporae; the influence of temperature and management guidelines. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 524.

• Brandl, S. J., Rasher, D. B., Côté, I. M., Casey, J. M., Darling, E. S., Lefcheck, J. S., & Duffy, J. E. Coral reef ecosystem functioning: eight core processes and the role of biodiversity. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

• Darling, E. S., McClanahan, T. R., Maina, J., Gurney, G. G., Graham, N. A., Januchowski-Hartley, F., ... & Puotinen, M. (2019). Social–environmental drivers inform strategic management of coral reefs in the Anthropocene. Nature ecology & evolution, 1-10.

• Fordyce, A. J., Ainsworth, T. D., Heron, S. F., & Leggat, W. (2019). Marine heatwave hotspots in coral reef environments: physical drivers, ecophysiological outcomes and impact upon structural complexity. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 498.

• Konh, B., & Parry, M. (2019). Design, fabrication, installation, and population of a novel Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) coral nursery structure off the south shore of Oahu, Hawaii. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 569.

• Leggat, W. P., Camp, E. F., Suggett, D. J., Heron, S. F., Fordyce, A. J., Gardner, S., ... & Eakin, C. M. (2019). Rapid coral decay is associated with marine heatwave mortality events on reefs. Current Biology.

• Muñiz-Castillo, A. I., Rivera-Sosa, A., Chollett, I., Eakin, C. M., Andrade-Gómez, L., McField, M., & Arias-González, J. E. (2019). Three decades of heat stress exposure in Caribbean coral reefs: a new regional delineation to enhance conservation. Scientific reports, 9(1), 11013.

• Nanajkar, M., De, K., & Ingole, B. (2019). Coral reef restoration-A way forward to offset the coastal development impacts on Indian coral reefs. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 149, 110504.

• Pratchett, M. S., & Cumming, G. S. (2019). Managing cross-scale dynamics in marine conservation: Pest irruptions and lessons from culling of crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster spp.). Biological Conservation, 238, 108211.

• Wang, Q., Li, Y., & Zheng, X. (2019). Morphological and histological characterization of a new Acropora-eating flatworm: A potential threat to captive acroporid corals. Aquaculture, 734384.

News:

• Nagel Meyers, Gay (August 6). Iberostar's commitment to sustainability, and coral research. 

• McCoy, Berly (August 8). Forget coral bleaching. Warming oceans are killing reefs and dissolving their skeletons. 

• Mendoza, Jim (August 8). Floating wetsuit helps Hawaii reef volunteers restore damaged coral. 

• Wildlife Conservation Society (August 12). Largest-ever study of coral communities unlocks global solution to save reefs. 

• Lohan, Tara (August 12). Saving Coral Reefs — with Sex.  

• Smee, Ben (August 14).  State government-funded managers urge cane farmers to question reef science. 

• Duong, Tiffany (August 17). Coral Collaboration- Scientists, students, and veterans join forces.

• Reception Team (August 20). WSL Partners with Glowing Glowing Gone to highlight Coral Reef Crisis. 

• Cayman News (August 20). Marathon entrants can help save the reefs. 

• Surfer Today (August 21). Pro surfers help restore reefs in French Polynesia. 

• Asimow, Noah (August 22). By Land and Sea, Looking to Restore a Planet in Crisis. 

• Irving, Michael (August 25). A giant rocky raft is drifting towards Australia to help restore the Great Barrier Reef. 

• Mathur, Natasha (August 26). Coral Reefs Can Be Recreated With The Help Of 3D Printing Technology, Claim Scientists. 

• Mexico News Daily (August 30). Lab-grown coral is replenishing reefs in Quintana Roo.

• The Daily Herald (August 30). Wastewater treatment needed to ensure coral reef existence.

The mission of the CRC is to foster collaboration and technology transfer among coral restoration scientists, practitioners, and managers, and to facilitate a community of practice that will advance coral restoration to keep pace with rapidly changing ocean and environmental conditions.