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Coral reefs face threats from climate change and local pressures that lead to reductions in their physical structure, impacting biodiversity by limiting habitat availability. Despite many efforts to actively restore damaged reefs, few projects provide thorough evaluations of their success. This study measured the success of the "Reef Star" method at the Mars Coral Reef Restoration Project in Indonesia in reestablishing the physical structure of reef habitats that were destroyed by blast fishing. We used photogrammetry surveys to measure the physical habitat structure of 17 large sites (1000 m2 each), calculating three complementary measures of small‐ and large‐scale habitat complexity across degraded, restored, and naturally healthy coral reefs. We demonstrate that the restoration efforts have successfully restored small‐scale habitat complexity, as described by surface complexity metrics (3.22 ± 0.27 on restored reefs; 2.85 ± 0.26 on healthy reefs) and fractal dimension (2.27 ± 0.02 on restored reefs; 2.24 ± 0.02 on healthy reefs). This demonstrates the capacity for restored reefs to recover important ecosystem functions that are lost in degradation. However, while restoration has delivered some increases in large‐scale habitat complexity compared to degraded reefs, restored reefs still exhibit lower values of maximum vertical relief than healthy reefs, due to a lack of large physical structures. This lack of available large‐scale habitat might impact fish populations, meaning that restored reefs with limited large‐scale complexity may only support a restricted range of ecosystem functions. Effective reef restoration strategies must use a mixture of different methods that target the recovery of structural complexity at multiple scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia, has a long history of palaeoenvironmental coral research. However, it can be logistically difficult to find the relevant research and records, which are often unpublished or exist as "grey literature". This hinders researchers' abilities to efficiently assess the current state of coral core studies on the GBR and thus identify any key knowledge gaps. This study presents the Great Barrier Reef Coral Skeletal Records Database (GBRCD), which compiles 208 records from coral skeletal research conducted since the early 1990s. The database includes records from the Holocene, from ∼8000 years ago, to the present day; records are from the northern, central, and southern GBR from inshore and offshore locations. Massive Porites spp. coral records comprise the majority (92.5 %) of the database, and the remaining records are from Acropora, Isopora, or Cyphastrea spp. The database includes 78 variables, with Sr/Ca , U/Ca , and Ba/Ca being the most frequently measured. Most records measure data over 10 or more years and are at monthly or lower resolution. The GBRCD is machine readable and easily searchable so that users can find records relevant to their research, e.g. by filtering for site name, time period, or coral type. It is publicly available as comma-separated values (CSV) data and metadata files with entries linked by the unique record ID and as Linked Paleo Data (LiPD) files. The GBRCD is publicly available from the NOAA National Center for Environmental Information World Data Service for Paleoclimatology at 10.25921/hqxk-8h74 (Arzey et al., 2024). The intention is to update the GBRCD annually, depending on the availability of relevant new GBR records or submission of legacy records to the GBRCD for archiving. The collection and curation of existing GBR coral research data provide researchers with the ability to analyse common proxies such as Sr/Ca across multiple locations and/or examine regional to reef-scale trends. The database is also suitable for multi-proxy comparisons and combination or composite analyses to determine overarching changes recorded by the proxies. This database represents the first comprehensive compilation of coral records from the GBR. It enables the investigation of multiple environmental factors via various proxy systems for the GBR, northeastern Australia, and potentially the broader Indo-Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Duncanopsammia axifuga (Scleractinia: Dendrophylliidae) is reported for the first time from Indonesia. A population was found in 5-m deep, murky water on a sediment-rich, inshore reef at Bird's Head Peninsula, West Papua. Some corals were attached to dead coral and others were loose fragments living on sediment. One attached specimen was observed to be damaged as a result of direct contact with an adjacent Goniopora coral. Free-living specimens on sand are more likely able to escape competition for space. These observations may help to better understand the northernmost range limit and the natural environment of D. axifuga, a species that is popular in the international aquarium trade, but has not been studied very well in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid growth of Indonesia's marine protected area (MPAs) estate in Indonesia, reaching 23.9 million hectares by January 2020, attention needs to be focused on strengthening the effectiveness of MPA management. Consolidating and expanding protection of Indonesia's marine resources is critical with increasing pressure from a fast-expanding population, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, pollution, coastal development, unsustainable tourism and climate change. Biodiversity conservation must therefore concurrently consider multiple economic sectors such as fisheries and tourism, and their synergies with MPA management. This paper aims to outline the current landscape of fisheries and marine tourism pertaining to area-based conservation in Indonesia, to inform and support improved integration into effective MPA management. Four areas to focus efforts were identified: diversification of governance types of community-based management, improved coordination between fisheries and MPAs during planning and management implementation, the development and support of pathways for sustainable tourism, and planning for future conditions. Sustainable development for fisheries and tourism must be incorporated into all aspects of MPA management, whilst recognising that current management systems are insufficient to ensure long-term sustainability for natural resources and local communities, and strategies need to increase resilience of social-ecological systems in anticipation of future conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]