Dalia Bercow, Haverford College

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Abstract:

Corals are slowly disappearing, disrupting ocean benthic ecosystems that they create. Restoration efforts seek to revive dead or diseased coral reefs by out planting young coral in these areas. However, active coral restoration largely relies on the use of high greenhouse gas materials such as concrete. The goal of our study is to create and identify a low greenhouse gas concrete alternative to be used in coral restoration that maximizes the settlement of Porites astreoides coral larvae and minimizes greenhouse gas emissions. I conducted an exploratory settlement study of P. astreoides larvae on seven cement tile types, observing and quantifying the number of larvae that settled and metamorphosed on the tiles after 48 hours. While the average larval settlement rate differed among tile types, a Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA revealed that these differences were not significant (p=0.23). The lower greenhouse gas alternative concretes were not significantly better or worse than the existing infrastructure for the settlement of P. astreoides larvae. Based on the materials tested, I propose that the biocement made with Vitacal, or a similar CaCO₃ mixture, should be used in reef restoration initiatives.