Which choice most logically completes the text?

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At Seabass Reef (Puerto Rico), coral colonies experiencing degradation—a problem facing reefs globally—have been enhanced with transplanted fragments of elkhorn (a stony coral). This is a useful restoration approach but is challenging at scale since it involves cultivating and individually moving young stony coral pieces. In 2025, Samapti Kundu and her team announced a new approach: coating reef substrates with a simple-to-apply substance, made with inexpensive and abundant core components (e.g., silica), that can mimic a signal that draws coral larvae to settle in healthy reefs. When tested in conditions simulating real ocean environments, the substance

should be able to simulate healthy reef signals even more closely when it is applied in natural ocean conditions.

offers a means of reef restoration that likely allows much broader implementation than the approach used at Seabass Reef does.

should be most beneficial for restoring reefs that predominantly consist of elkhorn coral colonies.

is likely to require more costly components to ensure its stability when used for coral colonies as degraded as those at Seabass Reef.