PhD defence Macarena Blanco Pimentel
Macarena Blanco Pimentel (MarBio)
Promotores: Prof. S.E.T. van der Meij, Prof. B.D.H.K. Eriksson
Science-based interventions for resilient coral reef restoration in tourism-dependent Caribbean coastal systems
Science-based interventions for resilient coral reef restoration in tourism-dependent Caribbean coastal systems. Caribbean coral reefs are undergoing rapid decline, threatening not only biodiversity but also the coastal communities and tourism economies that depend on them. At the same time, the tourism sector, in collaboration with other stakeholders, can play an important role in supporting reef recovery.
For restoration to contribute meaningfully to reef resilience, scientific knowledge must be translated into practical decisions that account for multiple traits, stressors, and ecological responses rather than relying on single indicators of performance. This thesis explores how resilience science can be operationalized to improve coral restoration decision-making in tourism-dependent Caribbean coastal systems.
The research focuses on practical approaches that can be incorporated into restoration programs, including a simple field-based method to integrate genotypic diversity into Acropora cervicornis restoration, the quantification of species- and colony-specific bleaching thresholds to assess thermal tolerance and rank candidate colonies for restoration, and the evaluation of active interventions such as thermal preconditioning to determine whether prior heat exposure can enhance subsequent stress responses and field performance.
The thesis also considers resilience to other major disturbances, demonstrating how ex situ intervention can improve survival of corals affected by stony coral tissue loss disease. Together, these studies highlight the value of integrating genetic diversity, thermal tolerance, phenotypic plasticity, disease response, and field performance within an ecosystem-resilience framework. They also demonstrate how tourism-sector restoration programs and cross-sector partnerships can help connect scientific evidence with implementation, creating opportunities to test, refine, and scale resilience-based restoration strategies across the Caribbean.