Applying coral breeding to reef restoration: best practices, knowledge gaps, and priority actions in a rapidly evolving field

Reversing coral reef decline requires reducing environmental threats while actively restoring ecological structure and function. A promising restoration approach uses breeding to boost natural recruitment repopulate reefs with genetically-diverse communities. Recent advances in predicting spawning, capturing spawn, culturing larvae, rearing settlers have enabled the successful propagation, settlement, outplanting of offspring all world's major regions. Nevertheless, efforts frequently yield low survival, reflecting r-selected life history corals poor condition most targeted for restoration. Furthermore, programs are still limited spatial scale species diversity. Here, we highlight four priority areas research cooperative innovation increase effectiveness restoration: (1) expanding number sites species, (2) improving broodstock selection maximize genetic diversity adaptive capacity restored populations, (3) enhancing culture conditions improve health before after outplanting, (4) scaling up infrastructure technologies large-scale Prioritizing these will enable practitioners address at relevant scales, re-establish self-sustaining ensure long-term success interventions. Overall, aim guide community toward actions opportunities that can rapid technical larval breeding, foster interdisciplinary collaborations, ultimately achieve reefs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.