Download or read book The Impact of Hurricane Lenny on Coral Reefs and Its Relevance to Pleistocene Reef Communities written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Storms such as hurricanes can dramatically impact a coral reef. In November 1999, Hurricane Lenny traveled an unusual west to east path across the central Caribbean approximately 480 kilometers north of the island of Curacao. Reef damage surveys at 33 sites conducted just months after the storm documented occurrences of toppling, fragmentation, tissue damage, bleaching, and smothering due to the storm. Several factors influenced the degree of damage experienced by the reef, including the trend of the shoreline, coral growth form, colony size, and water depth. Curacao's location outside of the major hurricane belt and well south of the track of Hurricane Lenny shows that rarely disturbed reefs can incur significant damage by storm-generated waves that travel across a great distance. Pleistocene reef communities on the island preserve the same species of corals and reef zonation present on many modern reefs throughout the Caribbean. Transects conducted along the fossil reefs show that different reef paleoenvironments (reef crest vs backreef) have different relative abundances of components. These different environments also preserve corals in the position of growth to differing extents. Many large coral colonies are preserved in growth position with the presence of few or no encrusting or boring organisms. These observations suggest a very rapid burial, possibly associated with a major regression while the corals were still alive. Although storm features on modern reefs, such as toppling and fragmentation, may potentially be preserved in the Pleistocene reefs of Curacao, these features are difficult to differentiate from those that were produced by other natural day-to-day processes such as bioerosion and processes involved with a rapid regression, including large-scale movement of sands from nearshore beaches or dunes.

Download or read book Global Climate Change and Coral Reefs written by Clive R. Wilkinson and published by IUCN. This book was released on 1994 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A global overview of the potential impacts of climate change and sea level rise on coral reefs, and of the implications of such impacts for ecological sustainable use of coral reefs. Includes information on the status and trends of reef conservation and use around the world, and suggestions for management of reefs in a changing world.

Download or read book Human Impacts on Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems written by Marah Justine Hardt and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fishing is one of the oldest anthropogenic disturbances in the ocean, differing from other impacts in its direct removal of biomass from the ecosystem. Despite the centuries of fishing activities, there is much we still do not understand regarding the effects of fish removal on the benthic community. I use an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the affect of human disturbance, primarily the alteration of fish communities, on major functional groups of coral reefs, over extended temporal and spatial scales. In Chapter 2 , historical analyses reveal that relatively small human populations and simple fishing technologies can negatively impact reef fish communities. Significant declines are evident in Pre Columbian times and by the mid 19 th C. Declines were exacerbated by simple innovations of gear, such as chicken wire, and government subsidies, which expanded degradation to offshore and deeper reefs. In Chapter 3, I identify six major ecological guilds of common Caribbean coral species and show that changes in the abundance of these guilds from the Pleistocene to the present day can be understood in terms of recent human disturbance events. Formerly advantageous life history strategies no longer apply. Instead, guilds with the ability to withstand physical disturbance from storms, sedimentation, and pollution remain present on reefs, while strategies for high recruitment and rapid space colonization increase the relative abundance of another guild. Overall, no guild successfully competes with macroalgae for space and all corals have declined. In Chapter 4, I show that benthic and fish communities across the northwestern Caribbean are largely homogenized as a result of human disturbance. The exception is fish communities in large, no-take marine reserves, which resemble relatively healthy communities of low-impacted reefs in the Pacific. A negative correlation between fish and algal biomass indicate that reserves may facilitate coral recovery, although corals have not yet increased. Chapter 5 describes a novel method for calculating the wet and dry animal tissue mass per unit area of corals. Chapter 6 integrates these findings and demonstrates the importance of increased temporal, spatial, and ecosystem scale in effective research and management of degraded Caribbean coral reefs.

Download or read book Geological Approaches to Coral Reef Ecology written by Richard B. Aronson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-03-09 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a unique perspective on the destruction - both natural and human-caused - of coral reef ecosystems. Reconstructing the ecological history of coral reefs, the authors evaluate whether recent dramatic changes are novel events or part of a long-term trend or cycle. The text combines principles of geophysics, paleontology, and marine sciences with real-time observation, examining the interacting causes of change: hurricane damage, predators, disease, rising sea-level, nutrient loading, global warming and ocean acidification. Predictions about the future of coral reefs inspire strategies for restoration and management of ecosystems. Useful for students and professionals in ecology and marine biology, including environmental managers.

Download or read book Human Impacts on Coral Reefs written by Bernard Salvat and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Effects of Hurricanes and Bioerosion Upon Benthic Communities on Coral Reefs written by David P. Moran and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Coral Reefs Global Climate Change written by Robert W. Buddemeier and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reefs at Risk written by Peter Hulm and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Impacts of Hurricane Mitch on Seagrass Beds and Associated Shallow Reef Communities Along the Caribbean Coast of Honduras and Guatemala written by Thomas Claud Michot and published by . This book was released on 2002* with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Documenting Hurricane Impacts on Coral Reefs Using Two Dimensional Video Mosaic Technology written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four hurricanes impacted the reefs of Florida in 2005. In this study, we evaluate the combined impacts of hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma on a population of Acropora palmata using a newly developed video-mosaic methodology that provides a high-resolution, spatially accurate landscape view of the reef benthos. Storm damage to A. palmata was surprisingly limited; only 2 out of 19 colonies were removed from the study plot at Molasses Reef. The net tissue losses for those colonies that remained were only 10% and mean diameter of colonies decreased slightly from 88.4 to 79.6 cm. In contrast, the damage to the reef framework was more severe, and a large section (6 m in diameter) was dislodged, overturned, and transported to the bottom of the reef spur. The data presented here show that two-dimensional video-mosaic technology is well-suited to assess the impacts of physical disturbance on coral reefs and can be used to complement existing survey methodologies.

Download or read book Ecological Effects of Pollution on Lagoonal Coral Reefs written by Lucy Rosina Harrison and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coral reef communities may be negatively impacted by sewage pollution either directly or indirectly. Organisms on lagoonal reefs may be particularly vulnerable because of limited water circulation. I examined the relationships between water quality, benthic community composition and fish community composition of coral reefs along a potential sewage pollution gradient in Tanapag Lagoon, Saipan. I also surveyed the lagoon for sewage-derived estrogenic compounds. Environmental factors unrelated to sewage, namely salinity and dissolved oxygen, were identified in non-parametric multivariate analyses as the main drivers of variation in benthic community composition. Differences among reefs in fish community composition were best explained by variation in abundance of branching coral, macroalgae, turf and coralline algae. There was detectable estrogenic activity in the lagoon (0.03 - 31.80 ng/L estrogen equivalence). Although no sewage proxies were highlighted as important correlates of variation in fish and benthic communities, managing water quality to maintain reef resilience remains essential.

Download or read book Impacts of a Natural Disturbance on Coral Reefs in the Florida Keys and Subsequent Recovery Potential of the Sea Urchin Diadema Antillarum written by Julia Nicole Kobelt and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecosystem resilience is a measure of an ecosystem’s capacity to resist abrupt change and recover following a disturbance. While stochastic disturbances can contribute to normal ecosystem functioning, mounting natural and anthropogenic stressors are simultaneously intensifying the severity of disturbances and reducing the capacity for ecosystem recovery. Here, I examine the impacts of hurricane disturbance on a coral reef ecosystem and the potential for post-storm population recovery of a keystone herbivore, the sea urchin Diadema antillarum. Grazing pressure exerted by dense populations of D. antillarum is critical to coral reef ecosystem health by preventing (or reversing) an ecological regime shift from coral- to macroalgal-dominated reefs following disturbance. Hurricane Irma, a Category 4 Hurricane, made landfall in the Florida Keys in September 2017. The effects of the storm on D. antillarum and the surrounding coral reef community were evaluated at 10 sites in the middle and upper Florida Keys. Following Hurricane Irma, D. antillarum densities declined by 80% and the coral reef community was significantly altered. To assess the potential for local D. antillarum recovery, larval influx and subsequent increases in adults were measured using artificial settlement plates and transect surveys, respectively. Larval influx did not yield a measurable increase in adults over the period of the study, indicating limits to post-storm population recovery. The reestablishment of D. antillarum populations seems unlikely without extensive management efforts. Enhancing herbivory on coral reefs will be essential to building ecosystem resilience in the face of an increasingly severe disturbance regime.

Download or read book Impact of Snorkelers on Shallow Coral Reef Communities in Palau written by Evelyn I. Otto and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With the increasing numbers of visitors arriving in Palau, most of whom come to dive and snorkel on the reefs, there are concerns about the impact of the increased number of visitors on the shallow coral reef communities. Because of the importance of our coral reefs to both the people of Palau and the visitors that come to enjoy them, it is important to determine if the increased usage of these resources is negatively affecting them. In this study, we examined the effects of the high number of snorkelers on five popular snorkeling sites. The crowded snorkeling sites were compared to reference sites, which were similar in exposure to wind and currents, and benthic communities, but had little or no tourist activity. At each site, benthic and fish surveys were conducted, as well as observations of snorkelers’ behavior. Our findings demonstrate that the snorkeling sites had significantly higher rubble cover and coral fragments. In contrast to corals, fish sizes were significantly larger at the snorkeling sites compared to the reference sites."--Page 2.

Download or read book Landscapes and Landforms of the Lesser Antilles written by Casey D. Allen and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-07-19 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the highly touristed, but surprisingly under-researched Lesser Antilles region. After offering a brief overview of the region’s geologic and tectonic history, as well as its basic climatology, subsequent chapters then discuss each island’s (or island set’s) geomorphology and geology, and how the settlement history, tourism, and hazards have affected their individual landscapes. Written by regional experts and replete with up-to-date information, stunning color imagery, and beautiful cartography (maps), it is the only comprehensive, scientific evaluation of the Lesser Antilles, and serves as the region’s definitive reference resource. Accessible to non-experts and amateur explorers, the book includes in-depth discussions and reference sections for each island/island set. Usable as both a textbook and guidebook, it offers readers a straightforward yet detailed assessment of an interesting and intriguing – but often-overlooked and under-appreciated – locale.

Download or read book Coral Reefs of the Indian Ocean written by T. R. McClanahan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2000-10-12 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coral reefs are among Earth's most diverse, productive, and beautiful ecosystems, but until recently, their ecology and the means to manage them have been poorly understood and documented. In response to the inadequate information base for coral reefs, this book reviews the ecological and conservation status of coral reefs of the Western Indian Ocean, bringing together presentations of the region's leading scientists and managers working on coral reefs. Coral Reefs of the Indian Ocean: Their Ecology and Conservation starts with a general overview of the biogeography of the region and a historical account of attempts to conserve this ecosystem. It goes on to describe the state of the reefs in each of the countries with coral reefs, and it concludes with a series of management case studies. The book also summarizes most of the existing ecological information on reefs in this region and efforts at management, making it useful for students, teachers, and investigators interested in tropical or marine ecology, conservation biology and management, and environmental sciences.

Download or read book The Geomorphology of the Great Barrier Reef written by David Hopley and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-05-17 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A valuable reference for academic researchers and graduate students in geomorphology and oceanography, this 2007 book reviews the history of geomorphological studies of the Great Barrier Reef and assesses the influences of sea-level change and oceanographic processes on the development of reefs over the last 10,000 years.

Download or read book Staghorn Corals of the World written by Carden C. Wallace and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 1999 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Staghorn corals (genus Acropora) are the most obvious and important corals on coral reefs throughout the world, providing much of the beauty and variety seen on the reefs. This invaluable reference tool is the first major review of Acropora in over 100 years. It assesses all the known species worldwide, describing each in detail and illustrating the range of variability of form with habitat and geographic location. The classification, evolution and worldwide distribution of all species are reviewed and illustrated with colour plates, full page black and white plates and distribution maps. Details of the general biology of staghorn corals are discussed and illustrated. The book is complemented by a CD-ROM, Staghorn Corals of the World: A Key to Species of Acropora, containing a LucID-based key to all species of Acropora and a photo library of type specimens from museums around the world. Special Offer: Staghorn Corals of the World book and CD-ROM set for only $220.00.