Conservation actions and ecological context: optimizing coral reef local management in the Dominican Republic.

Over the past few decades, coral reef ecosystems have been lost at accelerated rates as a result of global climate change and local stressors. Local management schemes can help improve the condition of coral reefs by enhancing their ecosystem recovery capacity. Caribbean conservation efforts include mitigation of local anthropogenic stressors, and integrating social participation.

Coral reef restoration efforts in Latin American countries and territories.

Coral reefs worldwide are degrading due to climate change, overfishing, pollution, coastal development, coral bleaching, and diseases. In areas where the natural recovery of an ecosystem is negligible or protection through management interventions insufficient, active restoration becomes critical. The Reef Futures symposium in 2018 brought together over 400 reef restoration experts, businesses, and civil organizations, and galvanized them to save coral reefs through restoration or identify alternative solutions.

Assessing and genotyping threatened staghorn coral nurseries during restoration in southeast Dominican Republic.

is a structurally and functionally important Caribbean coral species. Since the 1980s, it has suffered drastic population losses with no signs of recovery and has been classified as a critically endangered species. Its rapid growth rate makes it an excellent candidate for coral restoration programs.