1
|
Abd-Elgawad A, Cai R, Hellal A, Eltabakh M, Guo H, Mohamed F H, Xu C, Abou-Zaid M. Implementing a transformative approach to the coral reefs' recovery phase. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 879:163038. [PMID: 37003322 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
Mitigation and rehabilitation are responses to climate change and human misuse. However, many regions worldwide still lose coral reefs even after implementing these responses. We chose Hurghada city, on the Red Sea, and Weizhou island, on the South China Sea, as sample regions to assess their various modes of coral community structure loss against the combined climatic and human impact drivers that led to this shift. Despite the former being considered a regional coral refuge, while the latter was limited, both regions have previously intervened with coral restoration. We found that even after three decades of impact cessation by forcing laws, most coral reef states are still declining (about a third and a half in both cities), have not harnessed the existing crowded larval density, and are unrecovered. Such findings imply that the combined impacts will persist, necessitating a broad connectivity analysis that enables a suitable intervention (hybrid solutions hypothesis). Each state of coral categories was connected to certain combined stressor factors using our broad connectivity analysis to grasp the extent and relative contribution of coral community shift since our data obtained from comparable sites were widely varied. Moreover, destructive emerged changes have transformed the coral community structure under the forced adaptation scenario of the community structure, boosting those who can resist at the expense of others. To prove our hypothesis, we used the connectivity findings in determining the optimal technique and spots for coral rehabilitation around the two cities. We then compared our findings with the outcomes of two other existing adjacent restoration projects related to other endeavors. Our hybrid approach harvested coral larvae that had been wasted in both cities. Thus, hybrid solutions are globally required for such cases, and proper early interventions are needed to maintain the genotype power to boost coral adaptability throw global ecological settings.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Amro Abd-Elgawad
- Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, PR China; Tourism Developing Authority, Central Administration for Environmental Affairs, Cairo, Egypt.
| | - Rongshuo Cai
- Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, PR China.
| | - Ahmed Hellal
- Al-Azhar University, Faculty of Science, Marine Biology & Ichthyology Branch, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Mohamed Eltabakh
- Al-Azhar University, Faculty of Science, Marine Biology & Ichthyology Branch, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Haixia Guo
- Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, PR China
| | - Hala Mohamed F
- Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, PR China; Al-Azhar University (Girls Branch), Faculty of Science, Botany & Microbiology Department, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Changan Xu
- Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, PR China
| | - Mohamed Abou-Zaid
- Al-Azhar University, Faculty of Science, Marine Biology & Ichthyology Branch, Cairo, Egypt
| |
Collapse
|