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Enhancing Marine Biodiversity of the Urban Coast
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Enhancing Marine Biodiversity of the Urban Coast

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 November 2021) | Viewed by 5031

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Loke Ming Chou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, S2S 18 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119227, Singapore
Interests: coral reef ecology; reef restoration and conservation; integrated coastal management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Danwei Huang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biological Science, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117558, Singapore
Interests: coral reef ecology; evolution and conservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Coastal urbanisation has resulted in drastic modification of the natural coastline and, in many cases, the loss of natural habitats and and their associated biodiversity. The loss of ecosystem services compromises environmental quality and affects the livelihood of communities that are dependant on coastal resources. Maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of the urban coast remains imperative. Modified coasts, however, can serve as new habitats capable of supporting different biological assemblages, although a decline in species richness is expected. Can the urban coast be developed such that it can enhance biological diversity? It is possible that approaches such as restoration and ecological engineering should be more widely considered in order that coastal modification can be conducted with the aim of “reclaiming” marine biodiversity. Studies focused on enhancing the marine biodiversity of the urban coast will help to influence the incorporation of biodiversity support features in future coastal development.           

Prof. Dr. Loke Ming Chou
Dr. Danwei Huang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • coast
  • urban
  • modified
  • marine biodiversity
  • restoration
  • enhancement
  • ecological engineering

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 12444 KiB  
Article
Transplanting Coral Fragments in Close Contact Enhances Their Survival and Growth on Seawalls
by Yuichi Preslie Kikuzawa, Chin Soon Lionel Ng, Shu Qin Sam, Tai Chong Toh, Koh Siang Tan, Poh Leong Loo and Loke Ming Chou
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(12), 1377; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9121377 - 03 Dec 2021
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Abstract
Accelerated urbanisation has replaced many natural shorelines with coastal defences, resulting in the loss of natural habitats. However, structures such as seawalls can support some biotic assemblages, albeit of lower species richness. Ecological engineering techniques such as coral transplantation can enhance biodiversity on [...] Read more.
Accelerated urbanisation has replaced many natural shorelines with coastal defences, resulting in the loss of natural habitats. However, structures such as seawalls can support some biotic assemblages, albeit of lower species richness. Ecological engineering techniques such as coral transplantation can enhance biodiversity on these artificial structures, but its success is circumscribed by high costs. Little is known about the fusion of discrete coral colonies that could potentially improve coral transplantation success on seawalls, particularly for the slow-growing massive species that are generally well-adapted to living on seawalls. Here, we investigated the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of transplanting Platygyra sinensis on seawalls by comparing the survivability and growth of fragments transplanted adjoining with those transplanted further apart. Fragments (approximately 3 cm diameter; n = 24) derived from three individuals were randomly grouped into two treatments, transplanted at 0.5 cm and 5 cm apart. Fragments in the former treatment came into contact with each other after three months. We observed that in all cases, the contact zones were characterised by a border of raised skeletal ridges without tissue necrosis, often termed nonfusion (=histoincompatible fusion). The adjoining transplants showed better survival (75 vs. 43%) and grew at a rate that was significantly higher than fragments transplanted 5 cm apart (3.7 ± 1.6 vs. 0.6 ± 1.1 cm2 month−1). Our projections demonstrated the possibility of reducing transplantation cost (USD cm−2) by 48.3% through nonfusion. These findings present nonfusion as a possible strategy to increase the overall cost-effectiveness of transplanting slow-growing massive species on seawalls. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Marine Biodiversity of the Urban Coast)
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14 pages, 1394 KiB  
Article
Emersion-Associated Responses of an Intertidal Coral and Its Suitability for Transplantation to Ecologically Engineer Seawalls
by Clara Lei Xin Yong, Rosa Celia Poquita-Du, Danwei Huang and Peter Alan Todd
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(10), 1096; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9101096 - 07 Oct 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1908
Abstract
There is a growing interest in transplanting corals onto the intertidal section of artificial coastal defences (e.g., seawalls) as an ecological engineering strategy to enhance biodiversity on urban shores. However, this inevitably results in exposure to the harsh environmental conditions associated with emersion [...] Read more.
There is a growing interest in transplanting corals onto the intertidal section of artificial coastal defences (e.g., seawalls) as an ecological engineering strategy to enhance biodiversity on urban shores. However, this inevitably results in exposure to the harsh environmental conditions associated with emersion (aerial exposure). Although the effects of a multitude of environmental stressors on corals have been examined, their photophysiological and gene expression responses to emersion stress remain understudied, as does the among-genotype variation in these responses. In this study, we conducted an in situ experiment to test the effects of increased daily emersion duration on a locally common intertidal coral, Dipsastraea cf. lizardensis. Coral fragments (n = 3) from five genotypically distinct colonies were subjected to two treatments: (1) increased daily emersion duration (~4.5 h d−1) and, (2) control (~3 h d−1) for three consecutive days during spring low tide. We examined the post-experimental photophysiological responses and expression level of a stress-associated gene, Hsp16. Relative to the controls, coral fragments that were exposed to longer daily emersion duration displayed significantly reduced effective quantum yield, while endosymbiont density varied significantly among genotypes across the experimental conditions. We found no significant differences in chlorophyll a concentration and Hsp16 gene expression level, suggesting that changes in these processes may be gradual and the duration of treatment that the corals were subjected to is likely within their tolerance limits. Taken together, it appears that D. cf. lizardensis displays substantial capacity to cope with sup-optimal conditions associated with emersion which makes it a promising candidate for transplantation onto intertidal seawalls. However, within-species variation in their stress response indicates that not all genotypes respond similarly to emersion, and this should be taken into account when selecting donor colonies for transplantation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Marine Biodiversity of the Urban Coast)
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