Caribbean Acropora Restoration Guide - The Florida Reef ...

Chapter 4 | Case Studies
Case Study 1
Acropora cervicornis Restoration Using
Multiple Nursery Designs in Punta Cana,
Dominican Republic
Background
Historically, A. cervicornis was found on the shallow reefs in the in Punta Cana region of the Dominican
Republic. At present, there are sparse but healthy colonies of A. palmata but an extremely low abundance of
A. cervicornis. The goals of this project were to propagate the few surviving staghorn genotypes within a
protected nursery setting and rebuild enough coral biomass to start to repopulate the depleted Punta Cana
reefs. This has been achieved through the use of multiple nursery platforms.
Nursery Location
Punta Cana region of the Dominican Republic
Nursery Site Description
• Shallow sand patch (5.8 m) located below the surrounding shallow reef flat where wave energy dissipates.
• Close to potential outplant locations.
• Adjacent to a reef inlet for oceanic water, which offers excellent water flow.
• Mooring buoy located at the site to prevent anchor damage.
• Informal no-take-zone agreement between local resorts and fishermen keep fishing impacts low;
healthy fish and invertebrate populations contribute to low algal cover and low predator abundance.
• Close to resorts – creates an educational resource and provides for local stewardship.
• Absence of current natural A. cervicornis populations in the area provides a unique research and
management opportunity to evaluate the success of creating a viable population through the
outplanting of second-generation fragments and to determine what habitat characteristics contribute
to success.
• Currently, the nursery holds ›1000 fragments of A. cervicornis.
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