Volume 77
Restoring Caribbean Coastal Protection: The Wave Attenuation Potential of Elkhorn Coral (Acropora palmata)
Authors
Henri Vallès, Ruleo Camacho, Kristie Alleyne, Bernadette Charpentier, Kristen Clarke, Annabel Cox, Yaderia Davis, Andrew Ross, Haldain Spencer, and Suzanne Palmer Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2024
Event: Proceedings of the Seventy-Seventh Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Gosier
Country: Guadeloupe, French West Indies
Abstract
Caribbean shallow coral reef crests were once dominated by extensive thickets of Acropora palmata (elkhorn coral) (Goreau 1959), which formed dense "golden thickets" that significantly reduced wave energy before reaching shorelines, thus providing natural coastal protection against erosion (Osorio-Cano et al. 2018). This natural protection dramatically declined with the demise of acroporid corals across the region in the 1970s, increasing coastal vulnerability to erosion and flooding in small Caribbean islands. In the 2000’s and 2010’s, there was evidence that A. palmata populations were slowly recovering naturally across the region (e.g. Muller et al. 2013), suggesting that biotic and abiotic conditions for the recovery of this species were improving in the region.