| Popis: |
The success of coral reef rehabilitation practices is highly variable among projects and depends, in many cases, on their survivorship. While most research studies have focused on the long-term survival and growth rates of transplanted corals, short-term coral detachment is one of the principal causes of mortality in rehabilitation practices. Nonetheless, it is possible to prevent this by increasing the speed of coral self-attachment. To address this issue, we tested the efficiency of three different fasteners in attaching loose coral fragments onto two artificial substrata by assessing coral self-attachment and detachment rates in a short-term period (90 days). We transplanted 515 coral fragments from 8 species onto two substrates (glass bottles and iron rebar) using three fasteners (nylon cable tie, metal wire, and hemp rope). Generalized Linear Mixed-effect Models showed that the type of fastener, substrate, and the interactions between them were the main determinants of coral self-attachment and detachment. After 90 days, corals attached with cable ties exhibited lower detachment rates (3.80%) than corals attached with metal wire (25.28%) or hemp rope (69.27%). A higher number of fragments secured with cable ties managed to self-attach (73.42%) and grow over the substrate, compared with those secured with metal wire and hemp rope (57.3% and 30.18%, respectively). |
