The Coral Probiotics Village: An Underwater Laboratory to Tackle the Coral Reefs Crisis
Restoration efforts are urgently needed for the conservation of coral reefs. Among emerging tools, the use of probiotics has shown promise in laboratory settings for improving coral resilience, but their validation under real-world reef conditions remains limited. Here, we present the Coral Probiotics Village (CPV) as a novel and fully operational underwater research laboratory and a testing ground designed to support the in situ testing of microbial-based coral restoration interventions. This manuscript describes the design, establishment, and scientific validation of the CPV, including continuous environmental monitoring, a summary of previously developed pilot trials of probiotic applications, and an integration of sensor networks, AI-assisted reef monitoring, and autonomous technologies. We propose the CPV as a scalable model for integrated coral restoration science and suggest its replication as a tool to accelerate applied reef conservation efforts globally.
Authors
- Nathalia Delgadillo‐Ordoñez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7940-3280)
- Manuel Aranda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6673-016X)
- Ronell Sicat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7037-1614)
- Gustavo Duarte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7950-3975)
- Francisca C. García (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5363-1015)
- Alexandre Soares Rosado (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5135-1394)
- Stuart A. Sandin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1714-4492)
- Clinton B. Edwards (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4222-0290)
- Brian Owain Nieuwenhuis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4228-6989)
- Shinkyu Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8643-404X)
- João Cúrdia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1495-7164)
- Sebastian Schmidt‐Roach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7783-0198)
- David J. Suggett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5326-2520)
- Burton H. Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9599-1593)
- Charlotte A. E. Hauser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8251-7246)
- Michael L. Berumen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2463-2742)
- Tadd Truscott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1613-6052)
- Yusuf Christian El-Khaled (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0401-5520)
- Francesca Benzoni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8906-1309)
- Morgan Bennett‐Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7681-8939)
- Inês Raimundo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4589-527X)
- Raquel Silva Peixoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9536-3132)
- Susana Carvalho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1300-1953)
- Khaled N. Salama (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7742-1282)
- Helena Villela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0052-503X)
- Brian Zgliczynski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1552-7879)
- Eslam O. Osman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5517-8186)
- Érika P. Santoro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4962-1356)
- Neus Garcías-Bonet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6469-7167)
- Carlos Manuel Duarte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1213-1361)
- Christian Robert Voolstra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4555-3795)
- Alexander Przybysz
Institutions
- Boston University (US)
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- University of Konstanz (DE)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Graz University of Technology (AT)
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Ecology and Evolution
- Published
- 2025-07-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71558
- Citations
- 9
- Primary Topic
- Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 15.45
Funders
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology