Establishing reference points to assess long-term change in zooxanthellate coral communities of the northern Galapagos coral reefs

• Main Authors: Banks, Stuart, Vera, Mariana, Chiriboga, Angel
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Biology; Conservation; Ecology; Environment; Oceanography; Wolf Island; Darwin Island; Marchena Island; coral bleaching; el Nino; Galapagos Marine Reserve; GMR; southern osceillation; ENSO; Galapagos
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1834/36274

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...