Trainings and Resources

Monitoring is an essential component of all coral reef restoration efforts. Monitoring allows restoration organizations to identify whether project goals are being met, methodologies are working, and which aspects of a restoration program need improvement. It is important to collect data that are consistent, comparable, meaningful, and quantitative, in order to understand how restoration actions affect coral reefs.

The following resources can help current or future restoration practitioners learn how to monitor coral reef restoration.

General Coral Reef Restoration

Coral Reef Restoration Webinar Series – Co-hosted by the Reef Resilience Network and the CRC, these recordings of live webinars span a diversity of hot topics in coral reef restoration.

Coral Restoration Consortium – The CRC is a community of practice that includes scientists, managers, coral restoration practitioners, and educators. Their mission is to foster collaboration and technology transfer among participants and facilitate scientific and practical ingenuity to demonstrate that restoration can achieve meaningful results at scales relevant to reefs. Membership is open to interested individuals.

International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) Restoration Hub – This center for information on coral reef restoration includes links to restoration guidelines, new and existing initiatives, recent news and events related to the restoration of coral reefs, and information from the ICRI Restoration Ad-hoc Committee and UN Decade on Restoration.

Reef Resilience Network Restoration Online Course – This open-access course includes seven lessons on coral reef restoration, with interactions, videos, and quizzes. It is designed to teach reef managers and practitioners about the latest restoration best practices, including restoration planning and the diversity of current restoration approaches around the world.

Reef Resilience Network Restoration Website – This website provides guidance on coral reef restoration and links to key resources about restoration planning, coral propagation techniques, physical reef restoration, and emergency response.

Caribbean Reef Explorer Mapping Tool – From The Nature Conservancy’s Caribbean Program, these 4-m resolution benthic habitat maps span the entire Caribbean region to support coral restoration site selection. Use a variety of data layers including coral refugia modeling, MPAs, tourism value, coastal protection benefits, and more.

Coral Reef Restoration Monitoring

Coral Reef Restoration Monitoring Guide: Methods to Evaluate Restoration Success from Local to Ecosystem Scales – Experts from the CRC’s Monitoring Working Group developed this comprehensive guide to measure and describe the progress of coral restoration projects toward restoration goals.

Coral Restoration Foundation Photomosaic Manual March 2019 – This document for divers explains one method for creating underwater photomosaics.

Large Area Imagery Collection & Processing Standard Operating Procedures Version 2.0 – This manual from the University of California San Diego describes procedures for field collection, technical processing, and ecological processing of photomosaics for use in coral reef monitoring.

Webinar: Evaluating Success in Restoration – In this webinar, experts from the CRC’s Monitoring Working Group share an overview of their new publication Coral Reef Restoration Monitoring Guide: Methods to Evaluate Restoration Success from Local to Ecosystem Scales.

Webinar: Photomosaics as a Tool for Monitoring Coral Restoration Success – Experts from the CRC’s Monitoring Working Group describe the use of photomosaics for monitoring, including the steps involved with collecting data and creating the product and examples of how restoration practitioners have used the technology.