The EcoRRAP R&D Subprogram fills key knowledge gaps essential for the success and cost-effectiveness of reef restoration interventions.
An integrated field program, EcoRRAP provides data on region-, temperature- and species-specific coral life-histories. It quantifies natural rates of recovery and adaptation in response to global and local changes, as well as rates of recovery in response to interventions.
The central objective is to optimise interventions by understanding the ‘how, where, and when’ of natural reef recovery. This foundational data will help inform assumptions and decisions across the whole of RRAP and enable the success and cost-effectiveness of intervention research and development.
Alongside subprogram management and coordination, this project is focused on the establishment and long-term monitoring of Reference Reef sites across the length and breadth of the Reef. The Reference Reef sites provide critical baseline data sets to support RRAP decision makers in determining the how, why, and where of intervention deployment.
This project will generate knowledge on the important traits driving natural recovery and adaptation to both disturbances like heat stress and to restoration interventions. The project will investigate the variation of these traits across space, time, environments, and species.
This project aims to inform coral restoration planning by identifying agents of mortality for juvenile corals and how these vary in relation to environmental and ecological interactions, as well as defining the ideal size and density of adult corals to overcome reproduction bottlenecks and support larval production to optimise natural recovery.
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Buccheri, E., Ricardo, G. F., Babcock, R. C., Mumby, P. J., & Doropoulos, C. (2023). Fertilisation kinetics among common Indo-Pacific broadcast spawning corals with distinct and shared functional traits. Coral Reefs, 42(6), 1351–1363. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-023-02431-2
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Lechene, M. A. A., Figueira, W. F., Murray, N. J., Aston, E. A., Gordon, S. E., & Ferrari, R. (2024). Evaluating error sources to improve precision in the co-registration of underwater 3D models. Ecological Informatics, 81, 102632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102632
Webber, K., Fabricius, K., Wilson, S. K., & Hoey, A. S. (2024). The influence of Sargassum biomass and thallus density on the recruitment of coral reef fishes. Coral Reefs, 43, 687–699. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02494-9
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Martin, C. C., McClure, E. C., Webber, K., Burgo, M., & Hoey, A. S. (2024). Utilisation of macroalgal habitats by juvenile rabbitfishes on an inshore reef. Coral Reefs, 43, 1843–1855. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02581-x
Álvarez-Noriega, M., Ortiz, J. C., Ceccarelli, D. M., Emslie, M. J., Fabricius, K. E., Jonker, M. J., Puotinen, M., Robson, B. J., Roelfsema, C. M., Sinclair-Taylor, T. H., & Ferrari, R. (2025). Spatial variation in upper limits of coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 34(1), e13928. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13928
Riginos, C., Popovic, I., Meziere, Z., Garcia, V., Byrne, I., Howitt, S. M., Ishida, H., Bairos-Novak, K., Humanes, A., Scharfenstein, H., Richards, T., Briggs, E., Clark, V., Lei, C., Khan, M., & Prata, K. E. (2024). Cryptic species and hybridisation in corals: Challenges and opportunities for conservation and restoration. Peer Community Journal, 4, e106. https://doi.org/10.24072/pcjournal.492
Remmers, T., Boutros, N., Wyatt, M., Gordon, S., Toor, T., Roelfsema, C., Fabricius, K., Grech, A., Lechene, M. A. A., & Ferrari, R. (2025). RapidBenthos: Automated segmentation and multi-view classification of coral reef communities from photogrammetric reconstruction. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 16(2), 427–441. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14477
P.J. Mumby, G. Sartori, E. Buccheri, C. Alessi, H. Allan, C. Doropoulos, G. Rengiil, & G. Ricardo, Allee effects limit coral fertilization success, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 121 (52) e2418314121, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2418314121 (2024)
Álvarez-Noriega, M., Aston, E., Becker, M., Fabricius, K. E., Figueira, W. F., Gordon, S., Krensel, R., Lechene, M. A. A., Remmers, T., Toor, M., & Ferrari, R. (2025). Challenging paradigms around the role of colony size, taxa, and environment on bleaching susceptibility. Global Change Biology, 31(2), e70090. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70090
Drake, M. A., Noonan, S. H. C., Alvarez-Noriega, M., Rashid, A. R., & Fabricius, K. E. (2025). Current velocity, water quality, and benthic taxa as predictors for coral recruitment rates on the Great Barrier Reef. PLOS ONE, 20(3), e0319521. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319521
Matias, A. M. A., Popovic, I., Thia, J. A., Cooke, I. R., Torda, G., Lukoschek, V., Bay, L. K., Kim, S. W., & Riginos, C. (2023). Cryptic diversity and spatial genetic variation in the coral Acropora tenuis and its endosymbionts across the Great Barrier Reef. Evolutionary Applications, 16(2), 293–310. https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13435
Briggs, N. D., Page, C. A., Giuliano, C., Alessi, C., Hoogenboom, M., Bay, L. K., & Randall, C. J. (2024). Dissecting coral recovery: Bleaching reduces reproductive output in Acropora millepora. Coral Reefs, 43(3), 557–569. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02483-y
Ani, C. J., Haller-Bull, V., Gilmour, J. P., & Robson, B. J. (2024). Connectivity modelling identifies sources and sinks of coral recruitment within reef clusters. Scientific Reports, 14, Article 13564. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-64388-8
Sun, C., Steinberg, C., Klein Salas, E., Mellin, C., Babcock, R. C., Schiller, A., Cantin, N. E., Stella, J. S., Baird, M. E., Condie, S. A., Hobday, A. J., Herzfeld, M., Jones, N. L., Zhang, X., Chamberlain, M. A., Fiedler, R., Green, C., & Steven, A. D. L. (2024). Climate refugia in the Great Barrier Reef may endure into the future. Science Advances, 10(48), eado6884. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ado6884
Hsu, T.-H. T., Gordon, S., Ferrari, R., Hoey, A. S., & Figueira, W. F. (2025). Optimizing remote underwater video sampling to quantify relative abundance, richness, and corallivory rates of reef fish. Coral Reefs, 44, 435–449. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02613-6
Aston, E. A., Duce, S., Hoey, A. S., & Ferrari, R. (2022). A protocol for extracting structural metrics from 3D reconstructions of corals. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9, 854395. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.854395
Ferrari, R., Leon, J. X., Davies, A. J., Burns, J. H. R., Sandin, S. A., Figueira, W. F., & Gonzalez-Rivero, M. (2022). Editorial: Advances in 3D habitat mapping of marine ecosystem ecology and conservation. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, 827430. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.827430
Guillaume, A. S., Ferrari, R., Selmoni, O., Mocellin, V. J. L., Denis, H., Naugle, M., Howells, E., Bay, L. K., & Joost, S. (2025). Harnessing multiscale topographic environmental variables for regional coral species distribution models. Ecology and Evolution, 15(4), e71292. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71292
Ricardo, G. F., Doropoulos, C., Babcock, R. C., Adam, A. A. S., Buccheri, E., Robledo, N., Uribe-Palomino, J., & Mumby, P. J. (2025). Spawning asynchrony and mixed reproductive strategies in a common mass spawning coral. Ecology and Evolution, 15, e71654. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71654
Burgo, M., Fabricius, K. E., & Hoey, A. S. (2025). The structure and composition of macroalgal communities influence coral recruitment on an inshore reef of the Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs, 44, 1315–1326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-025-02691-0
Meziere, Z., Prata, K., Lechene, M., Ferrari, R., Popović, I., & Riginos, C. (2025). Connectivity differs by orders of magnitude among co-distributed corals, affecting spatial scales of eco-evolutionary processes. Science Advances, 11(27), eadt2066. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt2066
Greenwood, J., Sun, C. J., Doropoulos, C., Thomson, D., Baird, M., Porobic, J., & Condie, S. (2025). Passive retention of simulated larvae on coral reefs. Royal Society Open Science, 12(5). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.241708
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Langlais, C. et al. (2024) Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program – Developing, implementing and testing fine scale hydrodynamical models in the context of larval supply and restoration – Standard Operating Procedure. (23 pp).
Tonks, M., Coman, F., Mason, R., Uribe-Palamino, H., Woods, D., Doropoulos, C. (2024) Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program – Plankton tow sampling to estimate coral larvae relative abundance – Standard Operating Procedure. (21pp).
Ricardo GF, Doropoulos C, Mumby PJ (2024) Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program – In-Situ Experiments to Estimate Fertilisation Success During Coral Spawning – Standard Operating Procedure. (30pp).
Gordon S., Aston E., Lechene M., Harianto J., Bray P., Figueira W., Gonzalez Rivero M., Ferrari Legorreta R. (2023) Field photogrammetry in 4D. Reef Restoration and Adaption Program (EcoRRAP). Standard Operational Procedure Number 14 (1 of series): Overview and in-field workflow. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville. (62 pp) https://doi.org/10.25845/SE7T-PS86
Gordon S., Aston E., Lechene M., Remmers T., Piccaluga A., Brinker E., Cowasji Z., Harianto J., Bray P., Millar G., Watkin B., Figueira W., Gonzalez Rivero M., Ferrari Legorreta R. (2024) Field photogrammetry in 4D: Model Processing. Reef Restoration and Adaption Program (EcoRRAP). Standard Operational Procedure 15 (2 of series): Model processing. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville. (57 pp) https://doi.org/10.25845/mwkv‐ez70
Toor, M., Lechene, M.A., Becker, M.L., Remmers-Barry, T., Gordon, S., Stratford, J., Ferrari, R. (2025) Field Photogrammetry in 4D: Digitisation and 2D metric extraction. Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (EcoRRAP). Standard Operating Procedure 17 (No. 3 of series). Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville. (77pp).
Stratford, J., Toor, M., Guest, J., Jones, K.E., Ferrari R. (2026) Field Photogrammetry in 4D: Using AI to Monitor Coral Seeding Devices in TagLab. Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program & Pilot Deployment Program (EcoRRAP-PDP). Standard Operational Procedure Number 18 (No. 4 of series). Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville. (29pp). https://doi.org/10.25845/dsg4-cs73
Ferrari, R., Gordon, S., Toor, M., Noonan, S., Lechene, M., Becker, M., Piccaluga, A., Harianto, J., Aston, E., Guillame, A., Drake, M., Burn, D., Alvarez-Noriega, M., Nielsen, M., Brinkner, E., Figueira, W., Hoey, A., Lennon, D., and Fabricius, K. (2025) Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program – Integrated Field-testing and Sub-Program Management (ECO-01) Final Report. (27pp).
Doropoulos, C., Mumby, P. J., Donovan, A., Ricardo, G., Mason, R., Buccheri, E., Rowell, D., Le Nohaic, M., Coman, F., Craw, P., Holmes, B., Langlais, C., Moscatt, L., Orr, M., Salee, K., Thomson, R., Tonks, M., and Uribe Palomino, J. (2025) Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program – Limitations to Early Recovery (ECO-02) Final Report 2025. (28 pp).
Ortiz, J.C., Riginos, C., Popovic, I., Ferrari, R., Lechene, M., Noonan, S., Toor, M., Burn, D., Alvarez-Noriega, M., Becker, M., Lennon, D., Fabricius, K. (2025) Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program – Ecological and Genetic Adaptation (ECO-03) Final Report 2025. (54pp).
Tracking Reef Recovery: Explore 5 Years of Change in 3D
An interactive resource using high-resolution photogrammetry to show how coral communities have changed over time across multiple reef sites.
3D models produced using photogrammetry.
3D Imagery of the growth, recovery and survival of corals over time, provides vital information to support restoration efforts.
Peter Mumby
Professor
UQ
Manuel Gonzalez-Rivero
Research Scientist
AIMS
John Luetchford
Oceanographic Technician
AIMS
Pascal Craw
Research Scientist
CSIRO
Robert Mason
Research Scientist
CSIRO
Frank Coman
Research Assistant
CSIRO
Sam Noonan
Research Assistant
AIMS
Browyn Holmes
Research Assistant
CSIRO
Morane Le Nohaic
PhD Candidate
UQ and CSIRO
Hannah Allan
PhD Candidate
UQ
Elizabeth Buccheri
PhD Candidate
UQ
Isabella Marrable
AIMS and Uni. of Sydney
Sophie Gordon
Research Assistant
AIMS
Devin Rowell
PhD Candidate
UQ
Kelsey Webbe
PhD Candidate
JCU
