by Michelle Graulty | Mar 4, 2024
Area-based management for conserving biodiversity is becoming more common, especially to meet global targets like the 30 X 30 initiative. While Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are often set up to protect biodiversity, other types of management established for different purposes may also help achieve conservation goals, such as the case of other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs).
by Michelle Graulty | Feb 12, 2024
Local human activities and climate-driven marine heatwaves are significantly altering coral reef ecosystems. Managers aiming to increase reef resilience often face challenges in effectively integrating ridge-to-reef initiatives within their plans for coral reef...
by Michelle Graulty | Jan 22, 2024
Historically, natural resource management has focused on preserving or restoring ecosystems to previous baseline conditions. However, intensifying anthropogenic impacts combined with climate change means that it is often no longer possible to restore ecosystems to a...
by Michelle Graulty | Dec 26, 2023
Marine heatwave stress has led to widespread coral bleaching and mortality events. The ability of reef-building corals to withstand this heat stress will be an important trait under natural selection in the coming decades. Selection and propagation of heat-tolerant...
by Michelle Graulty | Dec 17, 2023
To mitigate the impacts of pollutants on coral reef ecosystems, managers require data-driven water quality thresholds. This study conducted a comprehensive review and meta-analysis, assessing the effects of various pollutants, including metals, pesticides (herbicides,...
by Michelle Graulty | Dec 7, 2023
Coral reef ecosystems and reef fish populations worldwide are diminishing due to a combination of factors, including overfishing, climate change, deteriorating water quality, habitat destruction, and decreasing reef complexity. When weighing various management...
by Michelle Graulty | Sep 13, 2023
Human activities in coastal regions, such as mining, farming, urbanization, and waste disposal, deteriorate water quality in nearby watersheds, negatively impacting downstream coastal ecosystems like coral reefs. This compromised water quality in turn affects human...
by Michelle Graulty | Sep 8, 2023
This study revealed that an acute deoxygenation event on a Caribbean coral reef rapidly altered the benthic community composition and microbial assemblage present. The deoxygenation event led to significant consequences, including coral bleaching, tissue loss, and...
by Michelle Graulty | Jul 28, 2023
This study assessed the coral community composition, bleaching, and mortality across a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance levels before, during, and after a prolonged heatwave during the 2015-2016 El Niño event on Kiritimati’s coral reefs. The year-long heatwave...
by Michelle Graulty | Jun 20, 2023
Coral reef restoration projects are becoming a popular corporate environmental responsibility activity at hotel resorts. This paper presents a simple monitoring method that hotel staff can conduct without scientific training to measure the success or failure of their...
by Michelle Graulty | May 30, 2023
Coral reefs are at risk due to coral bleaching caused by warming ocean temperatures and extreme heat waves, but certain coral populations exhibit tolerance to elevated temperatures. In Palau, corals within the Rock Islands experience consistently higher temperatures...
by Cherie Wagner | Sep 25, 2022
Integrating Resilience into Coral Reef Restoration
by Michelle Graulty | Oct 25, 2021
For context: “An ‘other effective area-based conservation measure’ is defined by the CBD as: A geographically defined area other than a Protected Area, which is governed and managed in ways that achieve positive and sustained long-term outcomes for...
by Michelle Graulty | Oct 14, 2021
The authors of this study convened coral reef experts to outline a set of principles that could be undertaken as a coordinated strategy to sustain coral reefs into the future. Through a new modeling approach, the authors show that under a climate scenario with...
by Liz Shaver | Oct 13, 2021
This study analyzed coral reefs in the southeastern Dominican Republic area of Bayahibe from 2011-2016, where tourism activities have increased significantly in recent years. These reefs, similar to other coral reef ecosystems around the world, are threatened by local...
by Michelle Graulty | Oct 12, 2021
In recent decades, marine heatwaves have caused widespread coral mortality, altering the structure of reef communities that people rely on for critical ecosystem services. Though some studies conclude that reducing carbon emissions is the only viable option to save...