Most coral reef restoration efforts are carried out over 1–2 years, and few have assessed long-term (over 3 years) outcomes. Although studies of outplantation of sexually propagated corals have reported promising initial results, few studies have followed outplanted corals to maturity. Here, we monitored sexually propagated Acropora verweyi corals for 4 years post-outplantation to determine their survival and sexual maturity. These corals were outplanted when 4 months old in two size classes (small = 0.3–0.5 cm; large = 1.0–1.5 cm) at two sites in the northwestern Philippines. Four years after outplantation, the 240 colonies of A. verweyi exhibited 17.9% survival, with mean diameters ranging from 7.48–26.8 cm. Most of the surviving outplants were gravid (81.4% of the 43 colonies) with mean diameters of at least 11.8 cm. Higher survivorship was detected in the initial large size class outplants than in the small ones at the natal site, but not at the other site. However, 4 years after outplantation, there was no significant difference in terms of geometric mean diameter between the initial size classes or between the sites. Results show that 4-month-old outplants of sexually propagated corals can survive until sexual maturity and are already capable of contributing gametes for the potential recovery of degraded coral communities at age 4 years.

中文翻译：

---

外植4年后有性繁殖的鹿角珊瑚的存活率和性成熟

大多数珊瑚礁恢复工作都进行了 1-2 年，很少有人评估长期（超过 3 年）的结果。尽管对有性繁殖珊瑚外植的研究报告了有希望的初步结果，但很少有研究跟踪外植珊瑚至成熟。在这里，我们在外植后监测了有性繁殖的Acropora verweyi珊瑚 4 年，以确定它们的存活率和性成熟度。这些珊瑚在 4 个月大时被移植到菲律宾西北部的两个地点，分为两个大小等级（小 = 0.3-0.5 厘米；大 = 1.0-1.5 厘米）。外植四年后，A. verweyi 的 240 个菌落存活率为 17.9%，平均直径范围为 7.48-26.8 厘米。大多数幸存的外植体是妊娠的（43 个菌落的 81.4%），平均直径至少为 11.8 厘米。在最初的大规格外植株中检测到的存活率高于出生地点的小型外植株，但在其他地点则没有。然而，外植 4 年后，初始尺寸等级之间或地点之间的几何平均直径没有显着差异。结果表明，4 个月大的有性繁殖珊瑚外植体可以存活到性成熟，并且已经能够为 4 岁时退化珊瑚群落的潜在恢复提供配子。