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CCMI Reef Lecture to share latest findings from coral restoration research
The Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) is continuing the popular community reef lecture series in 2022 as part of the annual Healthy Reefs awareness campaign. This effort has been ongoing since January 2019, and it has been well attended since its inception. The Reef Lecture series provides CCMI and the researchers opportunities to connect the projects taking place in Little Cayman with the community, providing a greater understanding of the connections between those in the Cayman Islands to the marine environment. Members of the public are encouraged to attend these free lectures to enhance their knowledge about coral reefs and their relationship to such important ecosystems.
The first Reef Lecture in 2022 will feature Dr. Gretchen Goodbody-Gringley, CCMI’s Director of Research and Education, as she presents ‘Insights on the impacts of coral restoration: How planting corals affects the entire ecosystem.’
This year marks a decade of restoration research at CCMI, and during this time, the organisation made significant strides toward improving methods for rearing corals in the nursery as well as improving survival after planting corals back onto the reef. With recent success from our coral-dome project showing significant increase in long-term survival of out planted corals (from 8% to 73%), the work has given important insights to site selection and out-planting strategies.
In addition to tracking the coral survival rates, CCMI’s research team investigated how out-planted coral-domes affected the resident fish populations. Nearly two years after creating a series of coral-dome sites, we
found an increase in fish density and diversity over time at reefs where corals were planted, suggesting that not only does restoration impact corals, but potentially the entire ecosystem. These findings provide support for our continued efforts to restore populations of these threatened coral species, as it will have far reaching impacts towards improving reef health.
Date: Thursday, 24th February 2022
Time: 5:45pm – 6:45pm
Location: National Gallery of the Cayman Islands, Dart Auditorium
This event is free and open to the public. Due to limited seating, advance registration is requested: bit.ly/ReefLecture.
