Over the past decade, coral restoration efforts have increased as reefs continue to decline at unprecedented rates. Identifying suitable coral outplanting locations to maximize coral survival continues to be one of the biggest challenges for restoration practitioners. Here, we demonstrate methods of using derivatives from airborne imaging spectroscopy to identify suitable coral outplant sites and report on the survival rates of restored coral at those sites. Outplant sites for a community-based, citizen science outplant event in Bávaro, Dominican Republic, were identified using expert-defined criteria applied to a suitability model from data layers derived from airborne imagery. Photo quadrat analysis of the benthic community confirmed the accuracy of airborne remote sensing maps with live coral cover averaging 3.5-4% and mean algal cover (macro algae and turf) ranging from 28-32%. Seven coral outplant sites were selected at 3-7m depth with maximized levels of habitat complexity (i.e. rugosity) and live coral cover and minimized levels of macroalgal cover, as predicted by the imaging spectrometer data. In November 2019, 1,722 Acropora cervicornis fragments (80-180mm in length) were outplanted to these sites. Surveys conducted in January 2020 in four of these sites confirmed that 92% of outplants survived after three months. By October 2020 (11 months after outplanting), survivorship remained above 76%. These results demonstrate higher than average success rates for coral outplant survival for this species. An online tool was developed to enable replication and facilitate future selection of coral restoration sites. We present a case study that demonstrates the efficacy of applying these methods anywhere airborne imaging spectroscopy data are collected.

中文翻译：

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使用机载成像光谱进行珊瑚礁修复的选址

在过去十年中，随着珊瑚礁继续以前所未有的速度下降，珊瑚恢复工作有所增加。确定合适的珊瑚外植位置以最大限度地提高珊瑚的存活率仍然是恢复从业人员面临的最大挑战之一。在这里，我们展示了使用来自机载成像光谱学的衍生物来确定合适的珊瑚外植体地点的方法，并报告这些地点恢复珊瑚的存活率。在多米尼加共和国巴瓦罗举行的基于社区的公民科学外植活动的外植地点是使用专家定义的标准确定的，该标准适用于来自机载图像的数据层的适用性模型。底栖群落的照片样方分析证实了活珊瑚覆盖率平均为 3 的航空遥感图的准确性。5-4%，平均藻类覆盖率（大型藻类和草皮）为 28-32%。正如成像光谱仪数据所预测的那样，在 3-7m 深度选择了七个珊瑚外植区，它们具有最大程度的栖息地复杂性（即粗糙）和活珊瑚覆盖率以及最小化的大型藻类覆盖率。2019 年 11 月，1,722 个鹿角鹿角骨碎片（长 80-180 毫米）被移植到这些地点。2020 年 1 月在其中四个地点进行的调查证实，92% 的外植株在三个月后存活。到 2020 年 10 月（外植后 11 个月），存活率保持在 76% 以上。这些结果表明，该物种的珊瑚外植体存活成功率高于平均水平。开发了一个在线工具，以实现复制和促进未来珊瑚恢复地点的选择。