2025/05/01 by Amy Apprill, Jennifer L. Salerno · 1 voice
Environmental Science · #Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies #Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies #Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.crsus.2025.100403
openalex publication_date 2025/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Monitoring coral reef ecosystem health is becoming increasingly important with the growing climate and anthropogenic-based impacts on reefs and the recent rise in reef restoration activities. Reef water microorganisms can indicate altered reef health and environmental conditions on relevant timescales for response actions but are rarely monitored. Here, we explain the conceptual idea of microbial-based monitoring. We provide accessible descriptions of reef water microbial collection methods, costs, and analysis, an overview of useful microbial indicators, and an example case study of how microbial monitoring data can aid in the selection of a coral outplanting site for restoration. We further outline the practical infrastructure, funding, and policy-type programs that can be leveraged to build a network for reef water microbial monitoring that could be used by natural resource managers and policy makers to benefit conservation, management, and restoration of threatened coral reef ecosystems.