How can we leverage fish behavior to facilitate habitat restoration success?
Coral restoration can alter fish visitation patterns and community composition in the restored area, and certain fish and invertebrates can be beneficial to coral growth and survival. However, it’s yet unclear how the landscape design of coral restoration may differentially impact visitation and community patterns.
We are investigating if the landscape design of coral outplants can be optimized to attract visitation and promote foraging from beneficial coral-associated fishes, while limiting the visitation by fishes detrimental to coral growth and survival. Specifically, we are looking into how patch density, habitat connectivity, and matrix composition influence taxon-specific visitation and foraging patterns near restoration outplant units of Acropora cervicornis in Curacao.
Gil Lab 