Abstract As coral restoration efforts increase globally, there is a growing need to not only increase post-restoration monitoring, but also advance reef restoration monitoring methods. Utilizing autonomous technology to compliment manual, SCUBA-based monitoring will diversify the types of data available to coral restoration practitioners and aid in determining the efficacy of restoration efforts. This study sought to investigate how existing reef monitoring technologies can be applied to coral restoration to improve monitoring resolution and assess restoration progress. The Benthic Ecosystem and Acidification Measurement System, which uses the gradient flux approach to measure benthic community metabolism, was used to monitor two arrays of nursery grown Acropora cervicornis within an offshore coral nursery in the Florida Keys. The first deployment monitored corals arranged in a density mimicking pre-restoration coral cover, while the second deployment monitored corals arranged in a density mimicking a reef site recently restored with nursery-grown A. cervicornis. The post-restoration density demonstrated a 36% increase in the observed ratio of net community calcification to net community production as compared to the pre-restoration density. Additionally, the post-restoration density demonstrated net accretion throughout the observation period (20 mmol CaCO3 m−2d−1) as compared to the pre-restoration density which experienced net dissolution (−5.0 mmol CaCO3 m−2d−1). Overall, the results of this study are promising indicators that metabolic monitoring could one day be widely utilized within the coral restoration field to remotely monitor benthic composition changes associated with coral restoration progress over time, providing valuable information to restoration practitioners, stakeholders, and resource managers.

中文翻译：

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评估将净群落生产和钙化的自主测量作为监测珊瑚恢复的工具的潜力

摘要 随着全球珊瑚恢复工作的增加，越来越需要不仅增加恢复后的监测，而且推进珊瑚礁恢复监测方法。利用自主技术来补充手动，基于 SCUBA 的监测将使珊瑚恢复从业者可用的数据类型多样化，并有助于确定恢复工作的有效性。本研究旨在调查如何将现有的珊瑚礁监测技术应用于珊瑚恢复，以提高监测分辨率并评估恢复进度。底栖生态系统和酸化测量系统使用梯度通量方法测量底栖群落代谢，用于监测佛罗里达群岛近海珊瑚苗圃内的两个苗圃生长的鹿角鹿阵列。第一次部署监测以模拟恢复前珊瑚覆盖的密度排列的珊瑚，而第二次部署监测以模拟最近用苗圃生长的 A. cervicornis 恢复的珊瑚礁地点的密度排列的珊瑚。与恢复前的密度相比，恢复后的密度表明观察到的净社区钙化与净社区生产的比率增加了 36%。此外，与经历净溶解的恢复前密度（-5.0 mmol CaCO3 m-2d-1）相比，恢复后的密度在整个观察期内显示出净增加（20 mmol CaCO3 m-2d-1）。全面的，