Terry Hughes

1. Linking Science and practice to safeguard
Coral Reefs in the Anthropocene
Terry Hughes

2. Global importance of coral reefs
Reefs support the livelihoods and food security
of 100s of million of people
Coral reef hotspots around the world

3. Talk Outline
 Threats to Coral Reefs
 History and current status of coral restoration
 Securing a future for Coral Reefs – what does
restoration, preservation, conservation mean
in the Anthropocene?

4. Wild stocks of many species have been
dramatically reduced:
Dugongs
Pearl Oysters
Sea cucumbers
Crocodiles
Sharks
Turtles
Reef Fishes

5. Runoff - pollution

6. Sea Temperatures vs Time

7. Video 1: underwater bleaching

8. Video 2: Aerial Surveys

9. >9,000km of aerial surveys
>75 hours of flying
1,156 reefs surveyed
Hughes et al. 2017a

12. 8 months later

13. Hughes et al. (2016)

15. 2016 & 2017 Bleaching
 Footprint is 1800km
 >50% coral mortality on 2/3 of the GBR
 Recovery time is now longer than return time!
 The Northern (and now Central) region has
changed forever.
 Is now the time for large-scale restoration??

17. Talk Outline
 Threats to Coral Reefs
 History and current status of coral restoration

18. Coral Restoration Projects – Throughout the Tropics

19. Cost: At least $255 million
Duration: 400 years

20. Artificial Reefs….

25. 2005
• The use of artificial ‘electric’ or concrete reefs, and
coral transplantation to restore large reef areas is
neither feasible nor prudent;
• Newly transplanted corals will probably die if the
fundamental environmental imbalances that caused
reef corals to die have not been remedied.

28. You can “Adopt” a Coral
With this adoption, you will receive:
• A certificate of adoption
• Digital photograph of your fragment in the nursery
• A second image once it is out-planted
• Your name on our coral adoption webpage
($50 x 10 x 10,000 = $5,000,000 per hectare)

30. The cost and feasibity of marine coastal restoration
Bayraktarov et al. 2016. Ecological Applications 26: 1055-1074
•Coral reefs > seagrasses > salt marshes, oyster
beds > mangroves
•Average (mean) cost was $1.6m per hectare
•Coral reefs show no economies of scale (n = 9)
• …. many studies are still small scale and
experimental.

31. What is the area of restorations?
0
250
500
750
1000
1250
1500
0
10
20
30
40
Restoration Area (m-2
)
Numberofstudies
2500
5000
75001000012500>
15000
Median Area is 178 m2
n = 76

32. How much does restoration cost?
< 0.5 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 > 5.0
0
5
10
15
20
Cost/Area (million USD.ha-1
)
Numberofstudies
Total Area: 13.95 ha (n = 76)
Total Cost: $23.98 million (n = 43)

33. Talk Outline
 Threats to Coral Reefs
 History and current status of coral restoration
 Securing a future for Coral Reefs – what does
restoration, preservation, conservation mean
in the Anthropocene?

35. What are the root causes
of change – the Drivers?

36. “Reefs in the Anthropocene”
 Maintaining functional reefs will require
better management and governance of
reefs to address ALL pressures

37. Future sea surface temperatures will “doable”,
But only if COP21 succeeds

38. “Winners and Losers”

39. “Reefs in the Anthropocene”
 Maintaining functional reefs will require
better management and governance of
reefs to address ALL pressures
 Reefs face a climate gauntlet; They will
transform, but not disappear under COP21

40. Future management options for Reefs
Hughes et al., Nature 2017b

41. “Reefs in the Anthropocene”
 Reefs face a climate gauntlet; They will
transform, but not disappear under COP21
 Maintaining functional reefs will require
better management and governance of
reefs to address ALL pressures
 Reefs do have a future, but a DIFFERENT
future

42. Muito Obrigada!
Email: terry.hughes@jcu.edu.au
Twitter: @ProfTerryHughes