The die-off of the long-spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum in the 1980s highlighted its crucial role as a primary grazer in tropical western Atlantic coral reefs. However, natural recovery has been slow, exacerbated by a new die-off in 2022. Interest in actively restoring D. antillarum populations …

Zee-egels spelen een cruciale rol bij het behoud van de gezondheid van Caribische koraalriffen, omdat ze grazen op algen die anders koraal zouden kunnen overgroeien. In de jaren '80 stierven zee-egels massaal, met alle gevolgen van dien. De populatie is nog altijd niet op peil, hoewel de gemiddelde zee-egel …

The Dutch Caribbean is making significant strides in coral reef restoration through innovative approaches to restoring invertebrate herbivores, as presented by Alwin Hylkema of Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences and Wageningen University during the DCNA Reef Restoration Workshop. Hylkema …

Gesprek met Alwin Hylkema, marine ecoloog aan de Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein en de Wageningen universiteit (WUR). Hij is hoofdonderzoeker en projectleider van het Diadema II project op het Caribisch eiland Saba. Daarbij herstellen ze de populatie zee-egels om het koraalrif-ecosysteem te herstellen …

Tropical western Atlantic reefs have gradually shifted from being dominated by corals to being mainly covered by macroalgae. The mass-mortality of the sea urchin Diadema antillarum in the 80s and the slow to non-existent recovery exacerbated this shift. Chemical cues associated with these reefs are expected …

Echinoderm mass mortality events shape marine ecosystems by altering the dynamics among major benthic groups. The sea urchin Diadema antillarum, virtually extirpated in the Caribbean in the early 1980s by an unknown cause, recently experienced another mass mortality beginning in January 2022. We investigated …

Donderdag bezocht de koninklijke familie Saba. Ze gingen langs bij een project van Nederlandse wetenschappers van hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein die door middel van zee-egels het afstervende koraalrif helpen herstellen.

The long spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum was an abundant grazer on Caribbean coral reefs, until 1983–1984, when densities were reduced by ∼98% during a region wide die-off. Since then, there has been very little natural recovery of the species and interest is growing in applying aquaculture as a …

The 1983-1984 die-off of the long-spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum stands out as a catastrophic marine event because of its detrimental effects on Caribbean coral reefs. Without the grazing activities of this key herbivore, turf and macroalgae became the dominant benthic group, inhibiting coral recruitment …

Diadema sea urchins (Diadema antillarum) are important algae grazers, but restoration attempts often record low survival of restocked individuals. This article sheds light on one of the causes for unsuccessful restocking. Restocked sea urchins were monitored with time-lapse cameras for 10 days. There …