Restoration Techniques

Our research focuses on nursery production, thermal tolerance, and scalable impact

Techniques to improve coral nursery production under heat stress

We are testing several low-cost methods to mitigate the impacts of heat stress to maintain favorable coral restoration outcomes under rising ocean temperatures.

Harnessing thermal tolerance for restoration

This research examines whether coral colonies keep their natural heat tolerance after being relocated to coral nurseries. Using thermal stress assays, we found that heat stress tolerance can be retained or recovered over time, emphasizing the importance of screening coral source material before restoration.

Identifying restoration success at scale

When we first started, basic benchmarks for restoration success were undefined and unavailable in Malaysia. Our efforts have focused on evaluating the success and cost of nursery- and outplanting-based coral restoration in this region.

Are heat tolerant corals good restoration performers?

This research investigates whether corals with high heat tolerance also thrive in restoration settings, assessing their growth, survival, and overall performance to guide the selection of resilient reef restoration stock.

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peer-reviewed publications

Available here

Impact & Insights

6 vs. 12 months

- is the time it took for some nursery corals to recover their natural thermal tolerance in a common garden coral nursery. This is an important finding relevant for restoration planning and practice.

Publication

8 vs. 15 m

- depth matters! Through research we optimized coral nursery production by growing corals deeper and more protected from compounding impacts of heat and light stress. This bared success even during the severe 2024 bleaching event.

Publication

3%-48%

- survival of outplanted corals from 6 species over three years. This study was Malaysia's first assessment of coral propagation success across natural reef substrate.

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34%-94%

- survival of nursery corals from 6 species. This study was Malaysia's first assessment of coral nursery productivity.

Publication

$ 12.1- $ 248.1

- is the cost per coral for a coral that survived at least 3 years (depending on the species). This informs financial planning and further research to improve success at lower cost.

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>20,000

- planted since 2021 with an average survival rate of ~72% over 3 years. Location, methods, and species determine success the most.

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INTERESTED IN COLLABORATING?

Get in touch with Coralku to learn more about our work and how you can get involved.