Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
A Comment article in Nature Climate Change argues that coral reefs are best saved by enabling natural recovery, rather than through “heroic interference” that involves manually outplanting coral fragments (R. P. Streit et al. Nature Clim. Change14, 773–775; 2024). Meanwhile, in this journal, Lisa Carne argues that, in her coral patch in Belize, outplanted corals grow well, so maybe manual restoration is worth the effort (L. Carne Nature634, 755; 2024).
Coral reefs deserve evidence-based management not heroic interference
Can foreign coral save a dying reef? Radical idea sparks debate
Great Barrier Reef’s temperature soars to 400-year high
Is it time to give up trying to save coral reefs? My research says no
