New genetic web tool to help restore climate-resilient marine ecosystems

In the face of increased human pressures and climate change, a team of Australian scientists led by Dr Georgina Wood at Flinders University have launched a new online tool to assist marine managers and restoration experts to bolster the resilience of marine habitat-forming species.

The ‘Reef Adapt’ initiative, developed by experts from the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW DPIRD), Flinders University and The University of Western Australia (UWA), aims to expand the tools available to promote diverse, adaptable and resilient ecosystems.

Described in a new article in Communications Biology, Reef Adapt harnesses genetic data from diverse marine species – including key reef-building corals and habitat-forming kelps, but with scope to expand to other taxa – to map out areas likely to harbour populations adapted to current and future environmental conditions.

The innovative web platform is designed for the rapid inclusion of genetic, biophysical and environmental data into planning of marine restoration and assisted conservation initiatives.

The tool provides users with maps that identify areas with populations suited to their specific restoration sites under current and future climate scenarios. The platform will initially house data for 27 species collected from 420 sample locations across the globe. Users will also be able to upload their own data to the site, further supporting the conservation of other species and areas.

While guidelines for terrestrial ecosystem restoration seed-sourcing exists, for example, the US National Seed Strategy and Australia’s Florabank, Reef Adapt is one of the first tool of its kind for marine environments.

The project follows similar projects on land, such as Australia’s NSW Restore and Renew program, to remove barriers of access to genetic data and improve restoration and assisted gene flow

Dr Georgina Wood, an Australian Research Council Early Career Industry  Fellow with Flinders University and Adjunct Research Fellow at UWA, says global efforts to restore ecosystems are intensifying, including the Convention on Biological Diversity’s recent adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework which aims to put 30% of degraded ecosystems under effective restoration by 2030.

“Alongside the increase in scale of marine restoration projects, there is a need ensure that restoration practices keep up with the latest available science, including the use of cutting-edge genomic information to make informed decisions about where to source restoration stock material,” says researcher Dr Wood

“Our world is changing now more rapidly than ever before. Ideally, every restoration project would incorporate climate adaptation into their design, but the data needed for this are typically difficult to access. Reef Adapt puts this information directly into the hands of both managers and practitioners,” she says.

The easy-to-use web platform hosts vital genetic information for government, not-for-profit and community organisations – removing barriers of access to vital information that the team hopes will improve both immediate and long-term restoration outcomes.   

Dr Melinda Coleman, NSW DPIRD Senior Principal Research Scientist, says the Reef Adapt online webtool will help guide marine restoration and assisted adaptation programs now and into the future.

“The revolutionary new Reef Adapt tool will use cutting-edge genomic data and seascape analyses to help marine managers, restoration practitioners and other stakeholders including aquaculture make informed decisions about where to source stock for restoration or aquaculture as well as help select climate proof stock that will withstand future ocean conditions,” explains says Dr Coleman.

“We hope that this webtool will be used broadly across marine and conservation managers, community groups or anyone embarking on marine restoration as well as aquaculture proponents.”

Dr Wood says the new Nature article and user manual give examples, with several case studies of ecologically and evolutionarily diverse taxa, including the staghorn coral (Acropora kentii), cauliflower coral (Pocillopora damicornis), golden kelp (Ecklonia radiata) and crayweed (Phyllospora comosa).

Development of the tool required collection of almost 10,000 reference data points from published population genetic literature, as well as a suite of environmental data and oceanographic models.

The article, ‘Reef Adapt: A tool to inform climate-smart marine restoration and management decisions’ (2024) by GV Wood (Flinders), KJ Griffin (UWA), M van der Mheen (UWA), MF Breed (Flinders), JM Edgeloe (UWA), C Grimaldi (UWA / Australian Institute of Marine Science, Perth), A Minne (UWA), I Popovic (University of Queensland), K Filbee-Dexter (UWA / Institute of Marine Research, Norway), MJH van Oppen (Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville / University of Melbourne), T Wernberg (UWA / Institute of Marine Research, Norway) and MA Coleman (UWA / NSW DPI, Fisheries) has been published in Communications Biology DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06970-4.

Videos and photos: Please credit video courtesy Stefan Andrews from Great Southern Reef Foundation. Photo  captions included.

Dr Georgina (‘George’) Wood will present on the use of digital tools to progress marine restoration at the 10th Western Society of Naturalists’ annual meeting in Oregon, US in November.