Establishing reference points to assess long-term change in zooxanthellate coral communities of the northern Galapagos coral reefs
Dramatic reduction in zooxanthellate corals through bleaching during the 1982–3 El Niño event and subsequent bio- erosion have resulted in archipelago-wide loss and fragmentation of coral habitat. Slow natural recovery and the risk to corals from global climate change raise important coral conservat...
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ftoceandocs:oai:aquadocs.org:1834/36274 2023-05-15T16:00:08+02:00 Establishing reference points to assess long-term change in zooxanthellate coral communities of the northern Galapagos coral reefs Banks, Stuart Vera, Mariana Chiriboga, Angel 1.67869 -92.0041 2009-06 application/pdf 43-64 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/36274 en eng 1390-2830 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/36274 http://aquaticcommons.org/id/eprint/21462 18060 2017-06-17 12:04:22 21462 Fundacion Charles Darwin Foundation Biology Conservation Ecology Environment Oceanography Wolf Island Darwin Island Marchena Island coral bleaching el Nino Galapagos Marine Reserve GMR southern osceillation ENSO article TRUE 2009 ftoceandocs 2023-04-06T17:05:36Z Dramatic reduction in zooxanthellate corals through bleaching during the 1982–3 El Niño event and subsequent bio- erosion have resulted in archipelago-wide loss and fragmentation of coral habitat. Slow natural recovery and the risk to corals from global climate change raise important coral conservation questions in a multi-use reserve. The largest coral reef communities remaining at Wolf, Darwin and Marchena islands were surveyed, to provide information on the conditionof these last persisting reef systems as a basis for future evaluation of the effects of climate change, human use and management upon them. Over the period September 2005 to February 2007, 2250 m of subtidal habitat were surveyed at 15 m and 6 m depth at four study sites. At each site we recorded substrate heterogeneity, zooxanthellate coral diversity and relative abundance, simple measurements of colony size, reef relief and health, and relative abundances and size distributions of the associated subtidal marine community (sessile macroinvertebrates and algae, mobile macro invertebrates and reef fish). Given the high level of tourism visitation, restricted range of the coral reef, considerable small scale between-site differences in coral species composition and associated subtidal assemblages, high subtidal species diversity unique to the northerly islands, and strong frequent climatic stress, appropriate additional protective measures, such as low impact fixed moorings, are recommended. Such measures will help conserve the ecosystem function of these key habitat-forming species both in the north and for the archipelago as a whole. Article in Journal/Newspaper Darwin Island IODE-UNESCO: OceanDocs - E-Repository of Ocean Publications Darwin Island ENVELOPE(-54.767,-54.767,-63.433,-63.433) Galapagos |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IODE-UNESCO: OceanDocs - E-Repository of Ocean Publications |
op_collection_id |
ftoceandocs |
language |
English |
topic |
Biology Conservation Ecology Environment Oceanography Wolf Island Darwin Island Marchena Island coral bleaching el Nino Galapagos Marine Reserve GMR southern osceillation ENSO |
spellingShingle |
Biology Conservation Ecology Environment Oceanography Wolf Island Darwin Island Marchena Island coral bleaching el Nino Galapagos Marine Reserve GMR southern osceillation ENSO Banks, Stuart Vera, Mariana Chiriboga, Angel Establishing reference points to assess long-term change in zooxanthellate coral communities of the northern Galapagos coral reefs |
topic_facet |
Biology Conservation Ecology Environment Oceanography Wolf Island Darwin Island Marchena Island coral bleaching el Nino Galapagos Marine Reserve GMR southern osceillation ENSO |
description |
Dramatic reduction in zooxanthellate corals through bleaching during the 1982–3 El Niño event and subsequent bio- erosion have resulted in archipelago-wide loss and fragmentation of coral habitat. Slow natural recovery and the risk to corals from global climate change raise important coral conservation questions in a multi-use reserve. The largest coral reef communities remaining at Wolf, Darwin and Marchena islands were surveyed, to provide information on the conditionof these last persisting reef systems as a basis for future evaluation of the effects of climate change, human use and management upon them. Over the period September 2005 to February 2007, 2250 m of subtidal habitat were surveyed at 15 m and 6 m depth at four study sites. At each site we recorded substrate heterogeneity, zooxanthellate coral diversity and relative abundance, simple measurements of colony size, reef relief and health, and relative abundances and size distributions of the associated subtidal marine community (sessile macroinvertebrates and algae, mobile macro invertebrates and reef fish). Given the high level of tourism visitation, restricted range of the coral reef, considerable small scale between-site differences in coral species composition and associated subtidal assemblages, high subtidal species diversity unique to the northerly islands, and strong frequent climatic stress, appropriate additional protective measures, such as low impact fixed moorings, are recommended. Such measures will help conserve the ecosystem function of these key habitat-forming species both in the north and for the archipelago as a whole. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Banks, Stuart Vera, Mariana Chiriboga, Angel |
author_facet |
Banks, Stuart Vera, Mariana Chiriboga, Angel |
author_sort |
Banks, Stuart |
title |
Establishing reference points to assess long-term change in zooxanthellate coral communities of the northern Galapagos coral reefs |
title_short |
Establishing reference points to assess long-term change in zooxanthellate coral communities of the northern Galapagos coral reefs |
title_full |
Establishing reference points to assess long-term change in zooxanthellate coral communities of the northern Galapagos coral reefs |
title_fullStr |
Establishing reference points to assess long-term change in zooxanthellate coral communities of the northern Galapagos coral reefs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Establishing reference points to assess long-term change in zooxanthellate coral communities of the northern Galapagos coral reefs |
title_sort |
establishing reference points to assess long-term change in zooxanthellate coral communities of the northern galapagos coral reefs |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1834/36274 |
op_coverage |
1.67869 -92.0041 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-54.767,-54.767,-63.433,-63.433) |
geographic |
Darwin Island Galapagos |
geographic_facet |
Darwin Island Galapagos |
genre |
Darwin Island |
genre_facet |
Darwin Island |
op_source |
http://aquaticcommons.org/id/eprint/21462 18060 2017-06-17 12:04:22 21462 Fundacion Charles Darwin Foundation |
op_relation |
1390-2830 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/36274 |
_version_ |
1766396001815363584 |