Culture technologies for sexually-derived coral propagules for reef restoration were developed and summarized in a manual entitled “Culture and rearing techniques of corals from larvae”. Results on the optimal size of sexual coral propagules appropriate for outplantation suggest that the performance of sexually-derived small coral outplants is highly affected by the condition of the outplantation site, while the large outplants showed consistently better performance. In the midst of increasing perturbations in the marine environment, especially on highly disturbed degraded sites, outplanting with larger corals may provide an advantage.
To date, some outplanted corals persisted after a few years, became sexually mature, and have been producing viable gametes in the wild. The culture techniques developed have been used in other experiments to understand coral biology and ecology and innovate new coral propagation methods.
(Production of Corals Program, Dr. Patrick C. Cabaitan/UPD MSI)
