Christine Roper
Project Title: Optimisation of in-water coral propagation practices for rehabilitating high value tourism sites of the Great Barrier Reef
Supervisors: Dr. Emma Camp
Contact Detail: Christine.D.Roper@student.uts.edu.au
Project Background: Coral reefs worldwide are rapidly deteriorating under the combined impacts of global climate change and local anthropogenic stressors. The Great Barrier Reef has been subject to major changes following the consecutive mass bleaching events of 2016 and 2017, driving major concerns for the recovery of ecologically and economically important "high value" sites. In response, the Coral Nurture Program was established in 2018 to implement a unique and scalable coral propagation and planting program aimed at rehabilitating or maintaining reef sites. However, as coral restoration is still in its infancy in this region, these practices need to be tailored to the unique reefs and social contexts of the Great Barrier Reef to ensure their efficacy and success. Knowledge is still lacking on how targeted planting efforts fundamentally enhance recovery rates, how coral nurseries fast-track colonies to reproductive size, and how to stock nurseries to deliver material that can contribute to different out-plant scenarios. This project aims to better understand the biological and ecological factors influencing coral propagation practices to more accurately determine their feasibility and scalability within the context of broader reef management plans.
Project Aims: My research focuses on evaluating and optimising coral propagation and planting efforts by better understanding factors influencing coral fitness to enhance the effectiveness of industry-led coral propagation. These objectives include (i) quantifying the rate with which intervention-based coral planting contributes to reef recovery at high-values sites, (ii) identifying how increased coral biomass through nursery growth potentially affects the quality of material available for out-planting, (iii) evaluating biological factors influencing coral propagule survivorship, and (iv) how emergent responses could be utilised to predict out-plant success and optimise population resilience. By achieving these aims, this project will advance our understanding of the ecological cost-benefits associated with these approaches to more effectively rehabilitate locally impacted sites.