Journal Articles - UP

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Spatial and short-term temporal patterns of octocoral assemblages in the West Philippine Sea
Lalas, Jue Alef A.; Lim, Romina Therese S.; Cabasan, Joey P.; Segumalian, Christine S.; Luciano, Rhea Mae A.; Valino, Darryl Anthony M.; Jacinto, Melchor R.; Arceo, Hazel O.; Baria-Rodriguez, Maria Vanessa (Frontiers Media SA, 2022-01-06)
Octocorals are relatively understudied than other coral reef organisms despite their ecological and economic values. The Philippines is known to have high marine biodiversity, but information on octocorals is lacking. This study investigated spatial and temporal variations in the assemblage of octocorals in selected reef sites in the West Philippine Sea (WPS)- the Kalayaan Island Group (i.e., Pag-asa, Sabina, Lawak, and Northeast Investigator) and Ulugan in 2017 and 2019. Results showed high octocoral taxonomic richness (at least 10 families) in the study sites. Mean percent octocoral cover in WPS was 5.35% SE ± 0.55, with Sabina having the highest octocoral cover in both years. Significant differences in octocoral cover were observed among sites in both years, but among-station differences were only observed in 2017. Octocoral assemblage also differed among sites in both years (ANOSIM: R > 0.5, p < 0.05), wherein different octocoral taxa dominated in different sites. In particular, variations were driven by high cover of holaxonians, nephtheids, and coelogorgiids in Sabina, and clavulariids, tubiporiids, and xeniids in Northeast Investigator in 2017. In 2019, significant variations were driven by high cover of helioporiids in Pag-asa, while Sabina had higher abundance of holaxonians, nephtheids, alcyoniids, and xeniids. Short-term temporal variation on octocoral cover in monitoring stations in Pag-asa was not observed (Kruskal-Wallis, p > 0.05), although the overall mean octocoral cover increased from 1.23% ± SE 0.47 in 2017 to 2.09% SE ± 0.37 in 2019. Further, there was no significant change in the octocoral assemblage in Pag-asa between years (ANOSIM, R = 0.11, p = 0.07). This study highlights high octocoral taxonomic richness in the WPS relative to other sites in the Indo-Pacific Region and provides baseline information on the octocoral assemblages, which can be useful for future ecological studies and marine biodiversity conservation efforts.
We would like to thank the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the Municipality of Kalayaan, and the Philippine Navy for their assistance and support during the research expeditions in the West Philippine Sea. We also thank Lovely Joy Heyres for assisting in the field collection and image analysis, and Kevin Yatco and Socorro Rodrigo for assisting in the satellite product processing. We also thank the valuable insights and suggestions given by the editor and reviewers of this journal that helped improve this manuscript.
Live slow, die old: larval propagation of slow-growing, stress-tolerant corals for reef restoration
Guest, James; Baria-Rodriguez, Maria Vanessa; Toh, Tai Chong; dela Cruz, Dexter; Vicentuan, Kareen; Gomez, Edgardo; Villanueva, Ronald; Steinberg, Peter; Edwards, Alasdair (Springer, 2023-11-06)
Efforts to restore coral reefs usually involve transplanting asexually propagated fast-growing corals. However, this approach can lead to outplanted populations with low genotypic diversity, composed of taxa susceptible to stressors such as marine heatwaves. Sexual coral propagation leads to greater genotypic diversity, and using slow-growing, stress-tolerant taxa may provide a longer-term return on restoration efforts due to higher outplant survival. However, there have been no reports to date detailing the full cycle of rearing stress-tolerant, slow-growing corals from eggs until sexual maturity. Here, we sexually propagated and transplanted two massive slow-growing coral species to examine long-term success as part of reef restoration efforts. Coral spat were settled on artificial substrates and reared in nurseries for approximately two years, before being outplanted and monitored for survivorship and growth for a further four years. More than half of initially settled substrates supported a living coral following nursery rearing, and survivorship was also high following outplantation with yields declining by just 10 to 14% over four years. At 6-years post-fertilisation over 90% of outplanted corals were reproductively mature, demonstrating the feasibility of restoring populations of sexually mature massive corals in under a decade. Although use of slower growing, stress tolerant corals for reef restoration may provide a longer-term return on investment due to high post-transplantation survival rates, considerable time is required to achieve even modest gains in coral cover due to their relatively slow rates of growth. This highlights the need to use a mix of species with a range of life-history traits in reef restoration and to improve survivorship of susceptible fast-growing taxa that can generate rapid increases in coral cover.
We would like to thank Ronald de Guzman, Marcos Ponce, Romer Albino, Jun Castrence (Bolinao Marine Laboratory) and Prof. Chou Loke Ming (Reef Ecology Laboratory, National University of Singapore). This work was supported by the Global Environment Facility/World Bank funded Coral Reef Targeted Research for Capacity Building and Management program, a Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Tier 1 FRC Grant (Grant Number: R-154-000-432-112) and the joint University of New South Wales and Nanyang Technological University project: “Development of the Advanced Environmental Biotechnology Centre (AEBC)” under the Research Centre Funding Scheme (RCFS), project No. COY-15-EWI-RCFS/N190-2. We are extremely grateful to David Suggett and one anonymous reviewer whose comments greatly improved the manuscript.

Journal Articles - UP - MSI

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