A review of ecological risks of coral reef interventions

Updated: 2026-04-29

This database was created as part of a CORDAP scoping study aiming to categorise and define the ecological risks associated with active coral reef interventions. A literature search was completed through SCOPUS on October 13, 2023, using the general search string ""(TITLE (""coral reef"" OR ""coral""), ALL (""intervention"" OR ""restoration""), ALL (""risk"" OR ""concern""), followed by ALL (""specific intervention""). The resulting records were included in our database if they (a) pertained to shallow coral reefs in tropical or subtropical settings, (b) focused on experiments or the implementation of active coral reef interventions, (c) discussed potential ecological risks associated with a specific intervention or with the broader field of coral restoration, and (d) were written in English. From each record, data was extracted in 24 categories falling under 4 attributes: (a) article information, (b) spatial information, (c) intervention information, and (d) risk information. A total of 169 articles are included in the database and analyses, covering 30 interventions and 198 risks (to date). Included in this collection is the database (built in Excel), an online platform to help readers better visualise and interact with the data (built in Tableau), and a Github link, which includes the R code for the summary statistics, analyses, and figures presented in the publication.