LB 11-105 - “Daily variation of Phonic Richness of three coral reefs under restoration in Culebra, Puerto Rico”

Coral reefs are among the most degraded ecosystems in the Caribbean. Its importance for the well-being of millions of people has prompted many actions for the recovery of its ecological function. However, there is still a debate as to whether coral reef restoration is indeed, leading to coral reef recovery. Consequently, measurements of restoration success are needed.Scientists have used coral reef soundscapes as a potential monitoring tool to determine the health and status of these ecosystems. Live and healthy reefs have a high number of sounds guiding coral and fish larvae to these ecosystems. Nevertheless, healthy reef soundscapes can change completely with the loss of its biodiversity. Therefore, measuring the recovery of soundscapes is important to evaluate restoration success and the state of these ecosystems.This research uses recordings taken at one of the largest programs of coral reef restoration efforts using outplants of endangered species in the Caribbean. Recordings were evaluated to determine if these restoration efforts influence changes on these ecosystems’ soundscapes. We analyze the audio taken on three sites per reef that are currently under restoration. We compare soundscapes using manual counts of fish biotic sounds (phonic richness). Classification of Phonic Richness (PR) in nine different categories of fish sound types was successful performing visually and auditory spectrogram analysis. All three coral reefs exhibit a high daily variation of PR for all hours and date recorded between Sites. We found that both acoustic indices presented significant variations for every frequency band when accounting for the hour of the day and the site selected. Results show the Site was the variable with the most influence in the daily variation for all reefs after GLMM's analysis.This study also demonstrates the necessity of recording replicates for each reef selected since the composition and biodiversity of reefs may vary significantly between sites. This research is the foundation of an innovative monitoring program for the restoration efforts conveyed by Culebra, Puerto Rico conservation managers.