Editorial: Conservation and restoration in the oceans

The goal of this Research Topic was to provide scientific insights into marine conservation and restoration, explore novel solutions, and lay a path toward sustainable ocean ecosystems. By integrating ecological and restoration-based perspectives, these contributions here highlight how advances in monitoring technologies and applied management strategies can inform more effective conservation practices (Anthony et al., 2022). Collectively, these studies also underscore that successful marine restoration and conservation should incorporate the complex interplay between global climate drivers and local environmental conditions.A central theme emerging from this collection is the importance of understanding site-specific environmental drivers of vulnerability and resilience. The global coral bleaching event of 2023, driven by record-breaking ocean temperatures, reminded us that climate extremes are now a defining feature of marine ecosystems (Remier et al., 2024). While thermal stress remains the primary driver of mass bleaching, mounting evidence demonstrates that local environmental conditions amplify bleaching severity and post-disturbance recovery (Donovan et al., 2021), and human-driven local disturbances undermine coral reefs' capacity to function as climate refugia (Walker and van Woesik 2026).One of the articles here directly addressed this challenge by examining how variation in light availability, sedimentation, temperature, and wave energy influenced bleaching susceptibility and demographic performance in restored populations of the threatened coral Acropora cervicornis along the western coast of Culebra, Puerto Rico (Cunio and Mercado Molina 2026). The study documented bleaching onset in September 2023, peaking in November, and affecting 45.5% of monitored colonies. Bayesian modeling revealed that sediment load and wave energy were the strongest predictors of bleaching probability, while sedimentation was the dominant driver of survival and growth trajectories. These findings align with prior work demonstrating that sediment stress can exacerbate physiological decline, suppress calcification, and increase mortality risk in reef-building corals (Rogers, 1990).Importantly, the authors found no difference in survival between bleached and non-bleached colonies, suggesting that bleaching alone may not predict demographic outcomes. Instead, local stressors emerged as the main determinants of population persistence. These results reinforce the growing recognition that managing local environmental conditions, such as sedimentation and nutrient loading, can significantly enhance coral resilience to thermal stress (Donovan et al., 2021). Incorporating fine-scale environmental data into site selection, outplanting design, and adaptive management frameworks is therefore key to maximize restoration success and long-term population persistence.Similarly, Zhang et al. (2026) introduce a new index to assess the effectiveness of coastal wetland restoration, integrating a salinity-sensitive indicator into the traditional Improved Remote Sensing Ecological Index (IRSEI) framework to enhance its sensitivity to key coastal stressors. Using Landsat imagery from 2014-2024, an IRSEI revealed a 23% increase in mean ecological quality, with nearly half of the restored area showing improvement and a core-to-edge recovery pattern driven by hydrological reconnection and vegetation restoration. More broadly, the study emphasizes that restoration success should be evaluated using integrative, multi-dimensional ecological indicators rather than single metrics, incorporating biodiversity, habitat complexity, ecosystem functioning, and resilience to disturbance. By synthesizing case studies across diverse coastal systems, the authors demonstrate that restoration outcomes vary substantially depending on local conditions, restoration strategy, and monitoring design, underscoring the importance of long-term, standardized, and integrative assessments that explicitly link ecological recovery to ecosystem services such as shoreline protection, fisheries support, and climate resilience. 2026) provide a perspective on how incorporating sexual reproduction into coral conservation can enhance genetic diversity, adaptive capacity, and long-term reef resilience. Drawing on work from Mexico, the authors show that larval propagation, settlement, and outplanting are technically feasible, scalable, and ecologically effective, providing a viable way to expand restoration capacity without compromising biological integrity. The study synthesizes recent advances in assisted fertilization, larval rearing, settlement optimization, and outplanting, while critically assessing technical challenges related to larval survival, settlement success, and large-scale implementation. Importantly, the authors argue that restoration strategies relying solely on clonal propagation may constrain evolutionary potential, whereas sexually derived recruits introduce genetic novelty that enhances tolerance to thermal stress, disease, and ocean acidification. By evaluating frameworks for genetic resource management, collaborative restoration networks, and long-term monitoring, the paper offers a plan for reef restoration, emphasizing that success depends not only on new technologies but also on coordinated institutional efforts and stakeholder engagement (Abelson et al., 2020;Boström-Elinarson et al., 2020).Complementing the approach of enhancing the use of sexual reproduction in coral restoration, another study explores ways to enhance the use of natural spawning slicks to generate larvae for reef reseeding and restoration, and provides an environmental DNA approach to underscore taxonomic composition in these slick mixtures (Marquardt et al., 2026). The authors demonstrate that current molecular tools can identify corals in these complex mixtures and achieved high accuracy (>97%) in detecting and quantifying coral taxa. In the Great Barrier Reef, these eDNA assays can find substantial spatial variation in scleractinian coral assemblages across locations. eDNA assays effectively distinguished reef-building corals from co-spawning taxa, including soft corals, anemones, and sponges. These results highlight the value of eDNA metabarcoding as a scalable tool for characterizing coral community composition in spawning slicks, supporting restoration strategies that maintain biodiversity, align with ecological requirements, and promote resilience to future environmental change. These insights are particularly relevant to restoration efforts, where maintaining genetic and ecological heterogeneity can reduce extinction risk and enhance adaptive responses to future environmental change (Baums et al., 2019).A particularly compelling message emerging from this Research Topic is the central role of local environmental management in shaping conservation outcomes. While climate change greatly affects marine organisms, local stressors such as sedimentation, nutrient enrichment, and physical disturbance can strongly modulate ecosystem responses. Strategic reductions in local stress can therefore provide meaningful gains in resilience, even under intensifying global climate stress (Donovan et al., 2021). These findings have direct implications for conservation policy, emphasizing the importance of integrated landsea management and place-based restoration planning.Moreover, this collection underscores the value of restoration not only as a conservation tool but also as a scientific platform. Restoration initiatives provide powerful experimental systems for testing ecological hypotheses, refining intervention strategies, and developing adaptive management frameworks (Suding, 2011;Boström-Elinarson et al., 2020). When coupled with rigorous monitoring and mechanistic research, restoration efforts can generate transferable knowledge that informs broader conservation strategies and policy development.In conclusion, articles in this collection demonstrate that effective marine conservation and restoration requires integrative, evidence-based strategies that couple technological innovation, ecological insight, and adaptive management. By linking local environmental factors and mitigation with advances in genetics, ecology, and monitoring, restoration can enhance resilience, safeguard biodiversity, and support sustainable ocean ecosystems in an era of accelerating global change. We hope that the findings presented here will stimulate further research, inform adaptive management strategies, and support the development of effective policies aimed at safeguarding ocean biodiversity for future generations.