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Updated: Aug 12, 2025

Author Spotlight: Advancing Coral Culture - Creating a Semi-Quantitatively Controlled Microenvironment System to Counter Current Limitations
Published on: July 21, 2023
Coral reef structural complexity loss exposes coastlines to waves
Jérémy Carlot1,2,3, Michalis Vousdoukas4, Alessio Rovere5,6
1PSL Université Paris, UAR 3278 CRIOBE-EPHE-UPVD-CNRS, 52 Av. Paul Alduy, 66000, Perpignan, France. jay.crlt02@gmail.com.
Abstract:
Coral reefs offer natural coastal protection by attenuating incoming waves. Here we combine unique coral disturbance-recovery observations with hydrodynamic models to quantify how structural complexity dissipates incoming wave energy. We find that if the structural complexity of healthy coral reefs conditions is halved, extreme wave run-up heights that occur once in a 100-years will become 50 times more frequent, threatening reef-backed coastal communities with increased waves, erosion, and flooding.
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