Lyngbya majuscula Blooms in an Enclosed Marine Environment

Cyanobacterial blooms are a cause of concern because of their potential impacts on the marine environment. In Sentosa Cove, Singapore, Lyngbya majuscula blooms appeared regularly in the highly enclosed boat canals traversing the seafront residential development. This study investigated whether sediments resuspended by physical disturbance liberated nutrients that contribute to the blooms. Sediment resuspension events were mimicked in containers of sediment collected from the canals. Lyngbya majuscula that were incubated in containers with resuspended sediment attained greater biomass than those in filtered seawater only. Levels of iron, phosphates and nitrites in seawater with resuspended sediments were significantly higher than in those without. The results indicate that recurrent L. majuscula blooms in Sentosa Cove could be attributed to nutrient loading from sediment resuspension

FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISATION OF CORAL SPECIES FOR ENHANCING REEF RESTORATION

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (FOS

CORAL REEF RESTORATION IN SINGAPORE - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENCE (ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT) (MEM

Coral Reef Ecosystem Enhancement in Singapore’s Highly Urbanized Port

Reclaiming Eden – Responsible Living, Engineering, and Architectures251-27

Influence of fragment size on post transplantation growth and survival of domed scleractinian corals

10.1080/17451000.2021.1957934Marine Biology Research1704327-34

Ex-situ spawning of Trochus maculatus in a coral culture tank

Nature in Singapore15Singapor

Transplanting coral fragments in close contact enhances their survival and growth on seawalls

Journal of Marine Science and Engineerin

Comparing patterns of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity in reef coral communities

10.1007/s00338-018-1698-6Coral Reefs373737–75

Transplanting Coral Fragments in Close Contact Enhances Their Survival and Growth on Seawalls

Accelerated urbanisation has replaced many natural shorelines with coastal defences, resulting in the loss of natural habitats. However, structures such as seawalls can support some biotic assemblages, albeit of lower species richness. Ecological engineering techniques such as coral transplantation can enhance biodiversity on these artificial structures, but its success is circumscribed by high costs. Little is known about the fusion of discrete coral colonies that could potentially improve coral transplantation success on seawalls, particularly for the slow-growing massive species that are generally well-adapted to living on seawalls. Here, we investigated the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of transplanting Platygyra sinensis on seawalls by comparing the survivability and growth of fragments transplanted adjoining with those transplanted further apart. Fragments (approximately 3 cm diameter; n = 24) derived from three individuals were randomly grouped into two treatments, transplanted at 0.5 cm and 5 cm apart. Fragments in the former treatment came into contact with each other after three months. We observed that in all cases, the contact zones were characterised by a border of raised skeletal ridges without tissue necrosis, often termed nonfusion (=histoincompatible fusion). The adjoining transplants showed better survival (75 vs. 43%) and grew at a rate that was significantly higher than fragments transplanted 5 cm apart (3.7 ± 1.6 vs. 0.6 ± 1.1 cm2 month−1). Our projections demonstrated the possibility of reducing transplantation cost (USD cm−2) by 48.3% through nonfusion. These findings present nonfusion as a possible strategy to increase the overall cost-effectiveness of transplanting slow-growing massive species on seawalls

Augmenting the Post-Transplantation Growth and Survivorship of Juvenile Scleractinian Corals via Nutritional Enhancement

<div><p>Size-dependant mortality influences the recolonization success of juvenile corals transplanted for reef restoration and assisting juvenile corals attain a refuge size would thus improve post-transplantation survivorship. To explore colony size augmentation strategies, recruits of the scleractinian coral <i>Pocillopora damicornis</i> were fed with live <i>Artemia salina</i> nauplii twice a week for 24 weeks in an <i>ex situ</i> coral nursery. Fed recruits grew significantly faster than unfed ones, with corals in the 3600, 1800, 600 and 0 (control) nauplii/L groups exhibiting volumetric growth rates of 10.65±1.46, 4.69±0.9, 3.64±0.55 and 1.18±0.37 mm³/week, respectively. Corals supplied with the highest density of nauplii increased their ecological volume by more than 74 times their initial size, achieving a mean final volume of 248.38±33.44 mm³. The benefits of feeding were apparent even after transplantation to the reef. The corals in the 3600, 1800, 600 and 0 nauplii/L groups grew to final sizes of 4875±260 mm³, 2036±627 mm³, 1066±70 mm³ and 512±116 mm³, respectively. The fed corals had significantly higher survival rates than the unfed ones after transplantation (63%, 59%, 56% and 38% for the 3600, 1800, 600 and 0 nauplii/L treatments respectively). Additionally, cost-effectiveness analysis revealed that the costs per unit volumetric growth were drastically reduced with increasing feed densities. Corals fed with the highest density of nauplii were the most cost-effective (US$0.02/mm³), and were more than 12 times cheaper than the controls. This study demonstrated that nutrition enhancement can augment coral growth and post-transplantation survival, and is a biologically and economically viable option that can be used to supplement existing coral mariculture procedures and enhance reef restoration outcomes.</p></div