Coral reefs in the Florida Keys have degraded in recent decades, prompting efforts to re-establish populations of staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis , to restore structure and ecological function. However, predation on these corals by the corallivorous gastropod, Coralliophila galea , has been a substantial and chronic impediment to restoration efforts. Therefore, we conducted a series of manipulative laboratory experiments and a 2-week, in situ proof-of-concept trial to determine whether Thais deltoidea , a carnivorous gastropod that co-occurs with C. galea , can control C. galea corallivory and thus improve A. cervicornis survival. Our laboratory results showed that T. deltoidea preys upon C. galea , although it is not a preferred prey choice. Nevertheless, treatments with T. deltoidea had significantly higher percentages of live coral tissue than when T. deltoidea was absent. This occurred not only because T. deltoidea consumed C. galea , but also because the presence of T. deltoidea elicited an escape response in C. galea , significantly reducing the amount of time C. galea spent feeding on A. cervicornis colonies. This trophic relationship was also seen in our in situ proof-of-concept trial. We observed significantly fewer C. galea on A. cervicornis when T. deltoidea was present which led to a higher, if not statistically significant, percentage of live tissue on our A. cervicornis outplants. Ecological processes need to be incorporated into coral reef ecosystem restoration to achieve positive outcomes. Integrating T. deltoidea into coral restoration efforts may improve success by mitigating C. galea corallivory through the non-consumptive, risk-adverse, escape response that T. deltoidea provokes, initiating a trophic cascade that improves the long-term survival of outplanted corals. Further research is needed to determine the long-term efficacy of this approach, but the addition of gastropod trophodynamics to coral reef ecosystem restoration may prove useful.

中文翻译：

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利用生态过程来帮助珊瑚礁生态系统恢复：腹足动物营养动力学可以提高珊瑚的存活率吗？

近几十年来，佛罗里达群岛的珊瑚礁已经退化，促使人们努力重建鹿角珊瑚（鹿角珊瑚）种群，以恢复结构和生态功能。然而，食珊瑚腹足动物 Coralliophila galea 对这些珊瑚的捕食一直是恢复工作的实质性和长期障碍。因此，我们进行了一系列操作实验室实验和为期 2 周的原位概念验证试验，以确定 Thais deltoidea（一种与 C. galea 共生的肉食性腹足动物）是否可以控制 C. galea 珊瑚，从而控制提高 A. cervicornis 存活率。我们的实验室结果表明 T. deltoidea 捕食 C. galea ，尽管它不是首选的猎物选择。尽管如此，T. 与 T. deltoidea 不存在时相比，deltoidea 的活珊瑚组织百分比明显更高。这不仅是因为 T. deltoidea 消耗了 C. galea，还因为 T. deltoidea 的存在引起了 C. galea 的逃逸反应，从而显着减少了 C. galea 以 A. cervicornis 菌落为食的时间。在我们的原位概念验证试验中也看到了这种营养关系。当 T. deltoidea 存在时，我们观察到 A. cervicornis 上的 C. galea 显着减少，这导致我们的 A. cervicornis 外植体上的活组织百分比更高，如果没有统计学意义的话。需要将生态过程纳入珊瑚礁生态系统恢复中，以取得积极成果。将 T. deltoidea 整合到珊瑚恢复工作中可以通过减轻 C. galea corallivory 通过 T. deltoidea 引发的非消耗性、风险不利、逃逸反应，启动营养级联反应，提高外植珊瑚的长期存活率。需要进一步的研究来确定这种方法的长期功效，但将腹足动物营养动力学添加到珊瑚礁生态系统恢复中可能会被证明是有用的。