Sediment burial reduces coral larval settlement, recruit survivorship, and inhibits the recovery of coral populations

We thank X. Serrano and J. Karazsia for their help in conceptualizing the project, coordinating research priorities with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection staff, port sediment sample collections, and assisting in the field. Thank you, J. Serafy and the University of Miami Experimental Hatchery for providing wet lab space to conduct these experiments. We thank N. Fogarty, K. O’Neil, and A. Bourque for generously providing coral larvae that were used in our settlement assays. This work was conducted under permits: FKNMS-2018-163-A4, FKNMS-2023-021, SAL-23-2526-SRP. We thank FDEP staff K. Kerrigan, T. Baker, P. Connelly, and K. Morgan for their support. Thank you to J. Cedeno, C. Lopez, and many others who helped in the field and the lab. M.L. is supported by NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program Award 1091. This research was carried out [in part] under the auspices of the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS), a Cooperative Institute of the University of Miami and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, cooperative agreement # NA20OAR4320472. This is contribution #2127 from the Institute of Environment at Florida International University.

This research was funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP Agreement Nos. C1F0F3 and C1E636).

Authors and Affiliations

1. Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

   Victor Rodriguez-Ruano, Allan J. Bright, Kathryn Grazioso, Sophia Ippolito, Colin Murphy & Dana E. Williams

2. Population and Ecosystems Monitoring Division, NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Miami, FL, USA

   Victor Rodriguez-Ruano, Allan J. Bright, Kathryn Grazioso, Sophia Ippolito, Colin Murphy, Dana E. Williams & Mark C. Ladd

3. Institute of the Environment, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

   Victor Rodriguez-Ruano, Alain Duran, Jolisa Velazquez, William Barriera & Silvana Guzman

Corresponding author

Correspondence to
Mark C. Ladd.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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