Want More Coral? It’s Not Just About Planting More
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Around the world, people are racing to save coral reefs. A lot of restoration projects focus on planting baby corals or transplanting fragments. That sounds great—but here’s the surprising truth: just adding corals isn’t enough to rebuild a reef.
An international team of researchers looked at 34 coral species from the Caribbean, Hawaiʻi, and Australia. We found two big keys to bringing reefs back:
- Keep adult corals alive
- Help more baby corals survive and settle
Outplanting corals can help, but for big reef systems it quickly becomes unrealistic—think thousands to tens of thousands of corals you’d need to add every year to make a lasting difference.
On the other hand, boosting survival and recruitment—by reducing pollution, protecting herbivores, improving water quality, or building coral settlement surfaces—has a much bigger payoff. Even a modest improvement in coral survival can help reefs rebound faster than massive planting efforts.
Reefs don’t just need new corals — they need better odds.