DOI: 10.5061/dryad.sv798dm
title: Data from: Motivations, success and cost of coral reef restoration

description: Coral reef restoration is an increasingly important part of tropical
 marine conservation. Information about what motivates coral reef
 restoration as well as its success and cost is not well understood but
 needed to inform restoration decisions. We systematically review and
 synthesise data from mostly scientific studies published in peer‐reviewed
 and grey literature on the motivations for coral reef restoration, the
 variables measured, outcomes reported, the cost per hectare of the
 restoration project, the survival of restored corals, the duration of the
 project and its overall spatial extent depending on the restoration
 technique employed. The main motivation to restore coral reefs for the
 projects assessed was to further our ecological knowledge and improve
 restoration techniques, with coral growth, productivity and survival being
 the main variables measured. The median project cost was 400,000 US$ ha‐1
 (2010 US$), ranging from 6,000 US$ ha‐1 for the nursery phase of coral
 gardening to 4,000,000 US$ ha‐1 for substrate addition to build an
 artificial reef. Restoration projects were mostly of short duration (1‐2
 years) and over small spatial extents (0.01 ha or 108 m2). Median reported
 survival of restored corals was 60.9%. Future research to survey
 practitioners who do not publish their discoveries would complement this
 work. Our findings and database provide critical data to inform future
 research in coral reef restoration.
description: Coral reef restoration
 databaseThis database represents
 the core part of the synthesis review "Motivations, success and cost
 of coral reef restoration". It contains information on cost and
 success of restoration projects worldwide described by the published
 literature, some grey literature and a few personal communications. This
 database is an update of the coral reef section of the database "The
 cost and feasibility of marine coastal restoration" which captured
 information on the restoration of coral reefs, seagrass, mangroves,
 saltmarshes, and oyster reefs until November 2014. The update involves
 data extracted from the literature published until March 2018, data on
 motivations to carry out the restoration projects, information on whether
 the Standards for Ecological Restoration were followed by the projects,
 the category of the outcome reported and the variables measured to report
 on the project success. All economic values were updated with the newest
 data provided by The World Bank (March 2019). The coral reef restoration
 database contains the full reference, general information about the
 publication and project, the restoration action undertaken, species
 involved, location, a description on the type of cost reported,
 information on funding sources, project duration (in years), the area
 restored in hectare (ha), the converted restoration cost in 2010 US$ ha-1,
 feasibility information (including reasons for success or failure), and
 restoration success in terms of % survival of restored organisms. We
 accounted for pre-transplant (i.e. survival of coral spat/larvae in
 culture before rearing them in nursery or out-planting), transplant (i.e.
 survival of coral fragments during nursery period), post-transplant (i.e.
 survival of coral fragments after out-planting to the reef) survival as
 well as for the overall survival averaged over the former three
 categories. See ‘Methods’ of the publication for a detailed database
 description for a detailed summary of the database
 information.Coral_section_v2.xlsx