Abstract The ‘gardening coral reefs’ method is part of the approaches proposed for counteracting the substantial impacts of global climate change on the survival of coral reefs. It incorporates ecosystem engineering strategies for coral nursery farming and coral colonies out-planting. This study explores the reproductive output of three sets of nursery-grown Stylophora pistillata colonies along eight reproductive seasons following transplantation, as compared to that of native corals. When native and transplanted corals grew side by side in a disturbed environment, the nursery-grown transplants showed enhanced larval release (2.6-22.5 times more planulae/colony; multiyear average: 11.6±1.8 planulae/transplant vs. 1.5±0.3 planulae/native colony) with higher percentages of gravid colonies (91±2.1% transplants vs. 34±7.6% native colonies). The inherently enhanced larval production of transplants, maintained for such a long period of time post-transplantation, reveals a possible enduring impact of the nursery conditions on future fitness and ecological traits of transplants. This is further supported by the emerging documentation regarding the enhanced growth of corals under nursery conditions, which continues to be detected even years after transplantation was conducted on the natural reef. The above enhancement of coral reproduction can be harnessed as a human intervention tool for countering global climate change impacts.

中文翻译：

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苗圃珊瑚移植中长期增加的幼虫产量

摘要 “园艺珊瑚礁”方法是为抵消全球气候变化对珊瑚礁生存的重大影响而提出的方法的一部分。它结合了珊瑚苗圃养殖和珊瑚群外种植的生态系统工程策略。本研究探讨了移植后八个繁殖季节中三组苗圃生长的 Stylophora pistillata 菌落与原生珊瑚的繁殖产量。当原生珊瑚和移植珊瑚在受干扰的环境中并排生长时，苗圃种植的移植物显示出幼虫释放增强（浮游珊瑚/群落的 2.6-22.5 倍；多年平均值：11.6±1.8 浮游珊瑚/移植对比 1.5±0.3 浮游珊瑚/原生珊瑚）集落）具有更高百分比的妊娠集落（91±2.1% 移植比 34±7.6% 本地集落）。在移植后保持如此长的一段时间内，移植物的内在增强的幼虫产量揭示了苗圃条件对移植物未来健康和生态特征的可能持久影响。新出现的关于珊瑚在保育条件下生长增强的文件进一步支持了这一点，即使在天然珊瑚礁上进行移植多年后，这种情况仍继续被检测到。上述珊瑚繁殖的增强可以用作应对全球气候变化影响的人类干预工具。新出现的关于珊瑚在保育条件下生长增强的文件进一步支持了这一点，即使在天然珊瑚礁上进行移植多年后，这种情况仍继续被检测到。上述珊瑚繁殖的增强可以用作应对全球气候变化影响的人类干预工具。新出现的关于珊瑚在保育条件下生长增强的文件进一步支持了这一点，即使在天然珊瑚礁上进行移植多年后，这种情况仍继续被检测到。上述珊瑚繁殖的增强可以用作应对全球气候变化影响的人类干预工具。