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John Edmonson

Recruitment Tile Study

A collective of local organisations looked at relative coral recruitment both within and among five reefs in the region following mass spawning in late 2023. This project was a resounding success in collaborating to collect meaningful data while building skills to identify new coral recruits. The data and training will hopefully be the start of a long term Hub program to support studies of reef connectivity!​

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The study aimed to help tourism operators, non-profits and the broader scientific community better understand and make decisions about local reefs.

  • After retrieval, tiles were treated with a mild bleach solution to reveal the coral recruit skeletons on top, side and bottom surfaces.​

  • The tiles were analysed at JCU, where Reef Hub participants learned how to identify coral recruits and record data from the 180 deployed tiles.

  • Each organisation deployed 15 limestone recruitment tiles (9 x 9 x 1.5 cm) at 2-3 sites per reef.​

  • Recruitment tiles, temporarily placed on reefs, then taken back to the lab, help estimate coral recruitment, as new coral offspring are not visible to the naked eye until nearly 12 months old.​

  • Temperature loggers were also deployed at each site to track local temperature trends over time.​

  • Tiles were fixed at reef sites in early October and left for 10-12 weeks post-spawning.​

A huge thank you to all of the Hub network who deployed tiles on their reefs and who joined us in the lab to help count coral recruits on these tiles!

2023-24 Results

Data shown is the average number of recruits per recruitment tile ± SE at each site.

  • Recruitment patterns varied within and among reefs, but clearer trends may emerge with continued monitoring in future years.

  • This was the first step in what we hope is a long-term study of coral recruitment in the region.

 

  • The study will be repeated and expanded in 2024 to assess how extreme conditions may have impacted coral recruitment over the last year.

The Reef Hub hope to make this a long-term study contributing valuable open-source data about our region's capacity to recover through mass coral spawning events.

Take a Closer Look

John Edmonson

John Edmonson

Who we are

A place-based initiative to strategically enhance, empower and connect the efforts of diverse local organisations to support the Great Barrier Reef, resulting in transformative benefit.

What we do

  1. Build a skilled network

  2. Facilitate collaborative, practical reef science

  3. Champion local voices

Outcomes we support

  • Strengthen collective capacity to care for local reefs and benefit the community

  • Identify critical gaps in Reef knowledge and practices, and drive solutions that benefit partners and the wider sector

  • Shine a light on local efforts and build partnerships

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