Mission: Iconic Reefs Measures Coral Larval Settlement in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
March 28, 2025
Mission: Iconic Reefs, a large-scale NOAA-led and partner-driven coral restoration initiative in NOAA's Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is just five years into its 20 year plan to outplant five million corals on seven important reefs. Planting corals is one piece of the puzzle, but in order to be self-sustaining, the corals also need to successfully reproduce and make new corals to grow on the reef. That's where Dr. Mark Ladd comes in.
Ladd is interested in understanding how these restoration efforts impact coral populations' ability to be self-sustaining through sexual reproduction. The recent deployment of more than 30 calcification accretion units at Horseshoe Reef and Cheeca Rocks will establish a baseline—a "before" snapshot—for comparison with future measurements taken after outplanted corals mature and spawn on their own.
"This will allow us to measure if and how restoration efforts influence coral recruitment in the future," Ladd explained. "The experimental design for the tile deployments lets us assess coral recruitment across Mission: Iconic Reefs sites as a whole; across different habitats, like forereef terrace vs. patch reefs; and among reef sites. We are also deploying tiles in control and restored plots at Mission: Iconic Reefs sites, thus allowing us to test if restoration has an effect on coral recruitment at smaller scales."
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary's waters are often referred to as the fishing and diving capitals of the world, and these coral reefs are the foundation for the state's recreation and tourism industry, which generates over $2 billion and 20,000 jobs annually in the Florida Keys. The health of coral reefs is a leading indicator for the economic outlook of fishing, diving, and other marine recreational activities. NOAA is investing in Mission: Iconic Reefs through several programs, including its National Marine Fisheries Service, Coral Reef Conservation Program and the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
