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<p>While global change presents significant threats to all environments, local scale conservation efforts such as coral restoration may help mitigate reef degradation. Our study investigates the combined effects of local coral restoration versus a coral bleaching event on coral health and fish assemblages. Between January and April 2024, approximately 60–70 marine heatwave days occurred across the Bora Bora region (French Polynesia). Two experiments were conducted on the fringing reef of Bora Bora: the first surveyed coral and reef fish communities in two biotopes (shallow fringing reefs and a deeper “reef drop”) before and after the 2024 bleaching event; the second assessed fish communities at restoration sites managed by high school children (citizen science) at three time points: (i) before restoration, (ii) after restoration, and (iii) after bleaching. Our results show a significant decline in live coral on the shallow fringing reef (with or without reef restoration) after the 2024 bleaching event, whereas the deeper reef drop exhibited minimal change, highlighting a depth-related difference in reef vulnerability to thermal stress. Despite these changes in coral cover, fish abundance and richness remained relatively stable across time (before and after the bleaching event). Overall, our findings highlight the lack of resilience of coral reefs under heatwaves and provide useful insights into the limitations of small-scale restoration when faced with large-scale thermal stress. This underscores the urgent need to design local-scale restoration strategies that are better aligned with addressing global change, particularly in regions where healthy reefs are vital for the survival of local human communities.</p>

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When coral dies but fish remain: limits of local restoration under climate pressure (Bora Bora, French Polynesia)

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月28日

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  • David Lecchini,
  • Stéphanie Krimou,
  • Xavier Raick,
  • Bastien Pagli,
  • Camille Gache,
  • Camille Carpentier,
  • Matthieu Juncker,
  • Laura Gautrand,
  • Jérôme Sowinski,
  • Vincent Sturny,
  • Tehani Maueau,
  • Tamatoa Bambridge,
  • Laetitia Hédouin,
  • Frédéric Bertucci

摘要

While global change presents significant threats to all environments, local scale conservation efforts such as coral restoration may help mitigate reef degradation. Our study investigates the combined effects of local coral restoration versus a coral bleaching event on coral health and fish assemblages. Between January and April 2024, approximately 60–70 marine heatwave days occurred across the Bora Bora region (French Polynesia). Two experiments were conducted on the fringing reef of Bora Bora: the first surveyed coral and reef fish communities in two biotopes (shallow fringing reefs and a deeper “reef drop”) before and after the 2024 bleaching event; the second assessed fish communities at restoration sites managed by high school children (citizen science) at three time points: (i) before restoration, (ii) after restoration, and (iii) after bleaching. Our results show a significant decline in live coral on the shallow fringing reef (with or without reef restoration) after the 2024 bleaching event, whereas the deeper reef drop exhibited minimal change, highlighting a depth-related difference in reef vulnerability to thermal stress. Despite these changes in coral cover, fish abundance and richness remained relatively stable across time (before and after the bleaching event). Overall, our findings highlight the lack of resilience of coral reefs under heatwaves and provide useful insights into the limitations of small-scale restoration when faced with large-scale thermal stress. This underscores the urgent need to design local-scale restoration strategies that are better aligned with addressing global change, particularly in regions where healthy reefs are vital for the survival of local human communities.