The Coral Probiotics Village: An Underwater Laboratory to Tackle the Coral Reefs Crisis
Neus Garcías-Bonet, Helena Villela, Francisca C. García, Gustavo Duarte, Nathalia Delgadillo‐Ordoñez, Inês Raimundo, Yusuf C. El‐Khaled, Érika P. Santoro, Morgan F. Bennett-Smith, Brian Owain Nieuwenhuis, João Cúrdia, Brian Zgliczynski, Clinton B. Edwards, Stuart A. Sandin, Eslam O. Osman, Ronell Sicat, Alexander Przybysz, Alexandre Soares Rosado, Burton H. Jones, Francesca Benzoni, Michael L. Berumen, K. Saláma, Shinkyu Park, Manuel Aranda, Carlos M. Duarte, Sebastian Schmidt‐Roach, Charlotte A. E. Hauser, Tadd Truscott, David J. Suggett, Christian R. Voolstra, Susana Carvalho, Raquel S. Peixoto
Abstract
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.