7.2 Review: Reproductive cycle and dredging – coral

Description

This review provides a brief summary of the methods and sampling protocol for quantifying patterns of reproduction in corals and an approach to quantifying the relative significance of periods of reproductive output that may occur throughout the year. Hypothetical examples are provided, and the approach provides a basis for further development of a method to quantify the importance of reproductive periods for maintaining coral communities, which is useful for managing dredging and construction operations around coral spawning seasons.

Aims

Combine information in this grey-literature with that available publicly to update our knowledge of coral reproduction in WA, for tens of thousands of corals and hundreds of species from over a dozen reefs spanning 20 degrees of latitude.