首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
   检索      


Rapid phase-shift reversal on a Jamaican coral reef
Authors:Joshua A Idjadi  Sarah C Lee  John F Bruno  William F Precht  Laurie Allen-Requa  Peter J Edmunds
Institution:(1) Department of Biological Science, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA;(2) Department of Marine Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3300, USA;(3) Ecological Sciences Division, PBS&J, 2001 NW 107th Avenue, Miami, FL 33172, USA;(4) Department of Biology, California State University, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330-8303, USA
Abstract:Many Caribbean reefs have experienced a phase-shift in community structure, the principle features being a decline in coral cover and an increase in macroalgal biomass. However, one Jamaican reef—Dairy Bull on the north shore near Discovery Bay—is once again dominated by scleractinian corals and several key species have returned. Living coral cover at 6–8 m depth at Dairy Bull has doubled over the past 9 years and is now ~54%. The absolute cover of Acropora cervicornis was <1% in 1995, but increased to ~11% by January 2004. During this time the cover of macroalgae decreased by 90%, from 45 to 6%. We speculate that long-lived colonies of Montastraea annularis may have facilitated the recovery of this reef by providing structural refugia.
Keywords:Acropora                 cervicornis              Coral reef                  Montastraea annularis              Phase-shift
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录!
设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号