File:Coast watch (1979) (20039257633).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_14 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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TOP: Tlie Diadema sea urchin is a key player in keeping coral reefs healthy. MIDDLE: Elkhorn coral survival will get help from a Sea Grant research project. BOTTOM: Alina Sztnant hopes her two- pronged project will restore sea urchins and corals. A two-front tactic For a major research initiative by the National Sea Grant College Program, Szmant has mapped out a novel, ecological approach for restoring coral reef habitat in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Her plan is not simple. But if all goes well, it could become a model for reef recovery. "Corals and sea urchins are two parts of the same story," she says, explaining her two-front tactic. First, the research team is developing methods to culture large numbers of coral larvae for reseeding damaged or degraded reef areas. They are concentrating on star corals, Montastraea spp. and branching elkhorn corals, Acropora palmata — both reef-building species. This phase of the project builds on Szmant's earlier research predicting spawning times, collecting spawn, and culturing the larvae for smaller scale laboratory and field experiments. Second, they are attempting to restore a population of the sea urchin Diadema antillarum. Its dramatic die-off in 1983 may have helped tip the ecological balance of the coral reef communities in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean. Without the herbivorous Diadema, coral reefs in the region gradually became smothered by fleshy algae and thick turfs. The researchers are developing a mariculture system to rear large numbers of Diadema for release in the designated sanctuary restoration site. They predict that restoring sea urchin populations will help create clean reef surfaces that are capable of supporting the cultured coral larvae. With the fleshy algae and turf held in check, the scientists also hope to see the return of other keystone members of the coral reef ecosystem. Coral reef habitats are complex, interrelated marine communities. Reefs are built up by layers of calcium carbonate — the accumulated skeletons of billions of soft- bodied sea animals called coral polyps. Inside the living coral polyps, zooxan- thellae — "good algae" — provide oxygen

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