Effects of outplant size on Acropora palmata fragment survivorship, growth, and condition

"Outplanting nursery-reared corals has become an important tool for reef restoration. Though improved performance by larger coral fragments seems likely, the decision to outplant smaller or larger fragments is often not a clear choice, given the additional investment in production for larger sizes. Much effort in the past few years has addressed such questions for Acropora cervicornis restocking, but Acropora palmata culture at similar scales has lagged significantly. In order to better understand differences in growth and condition of A. palmata outplants, we utilized "small" and "large" nursery-reared fragments across three reefs in the upper Florida Keys (Figure 1). This report documents growth, predation, bleaching status, and mortality between two size treatments of outplants between June and November of 2014. Our study sites experienced an intense bleaching event during the summer of 20141 (Williams et al. 2015), and also provided a comparison of bleaching resiliency and resistance between size treatments of outplants"--Introduction. 2015 Grant no. NA13NMF4630144 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) SEFSC (Southeast Fisheries Science Center) OPR (Office of Protected Resources) CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System) Library Public Domain 1860