Coral species distribution and percent cover of sessile organisms on protected and non-protected coral reefs in Digir, Buga, Dubbir, and Kanir Kinnidup, Guna Yala, Panama
Coral reefs are the most productive, biodiverse ecosystems in the ocean despite covering only <.5% of the ocean floor. In today’s changing climate, coral reefs face a multitude of threats including ocean warming, coral bleaching, ocean acidification, overfishing, increasing human population, and...
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ftworldlearning:oai:digitalcollections.sit.edu:isp_collection-3754 2023-05-15T17:51:52+02:00 Coral species distribution and percent cover of sessile organisms on protected and non-protected coral reefs in Digir, Buga, Dubbir, and Kanir Kinnidup, Guna Yala, Panama Paulson, Sarah 2017-10-01T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2730 https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3754&context=isp_collection unknown SIT Digital Collections https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2730 https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3754&context=isp_collection Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection Biodiversity Environmental Health Environmental Studies Latin American Studies Marine Biology text 2017 ftworldlearning 2022-12-19T06:52:17Z Coral reefs are the most productive, biodiverse ecosystems in the ocean despite covering only <.5% of the ocean floor. In today’s changing climate, coral reefs face a multitude of threats including ocean warming, coral bleaching, ocean acidification, overfishing, increasing human population, and coral mining, among others. One way to protect coral reefs is to establish a marine protected area to limit damage and contamination. This study aimed to examine coral species distribution as well as percent cover of sessile organisms and substrates including coral, fire coral, algae, and sponges on protected and non-protected reefs in order to attempt to analyze the effect of protection on coral reefs in Guna Yala, Panama. Based on the data collected, protected areas had higher algae cover (P<.01, df=107), lower coral cover (P<.0001, df=138), and a higher relative abundance of corals with a “weedy” life history such as Porites astreoides (P<.05, df=80). The data also showed that uninhabited islands tended to have significantly higher average coral cover (P<.0001, df=146) and lower average algae cover (P<.0001, df=161), as well as lower relative abundance of P. astreoides (P<.01, df=134). When the protected site sampled was compared to an unprotected site that was around the same island, the protected area was found to have higher coral cover (P<.01, df=71) and lower algae cover (P<.05, df=72) than the unprotected area. Ultimately, lack of human population and protected status were found to be positive factors for coral reef health, and future study should be done to further examine the relationship between these two factors. Text Ocean acidification SIT Digital Collections |
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Biodiversity Environmental Health Environmental Studies Latin American Studies Marine Biology |
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Biodiversity Environmental Health Environmental Studies Latin American Studies Marine Biology Paulson, Sarah Coral species distribution and percent cover of sessile organisms on protected and non-protected coral reefs in Digir, Buga, Dubbir, and Kanir Kinnidup, Guna Yala, Panama |
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Biodiversity Environmental Health Environmental Studies Latin American Studies Marine Biology |
description |
Coral reefs are the most productive, biodiverse ecosystems in the ocean despite covering only <.5% of the ocean floor. In today’s changing climate, coral reefs face a multitude of threats including ocean warming, coral bleaching, ocean acidification, overfishing, increasing human population, and coral mining, among others. One way to protect coral reefs is to establish a marine protected area to limit damage and contamination. This study aimed to examine coral species distribution as well as percent cover of sessile organisms and substrates including coral, fire coral, algae, and sponges on protected and non-protected reefs in order to attempt to analyze the effect of protection on coral reefs in Guna Yala, Panama. Based on the data collected, protected areas had higher algae cover (P<.01, df=107), lower coral cover (P<.0001, df=138), and a higher relative abundance of corals with a “weedy” life history such as Porites astreoides (P<.05, df=80). The data also showed that uninhabited islands tended to have significantly higher average coral cover (P<.0001, df=146) and lower average algae cover (P<.0001, df=161), as well as lower relative abundance of P. astreoides (P<.01, df=134). When the protected site sampled was compared to an unprotected site that was around the same island, the protected area was found to have higher coral cover (P<.01, df=71) and lower algae cover (P<.05, df=72) than the unprotected area. Ultimately, lack of human population and protected status were found to be positive factors for coral reef health, and future study should be done to further examine the relationship between these two factors. |
format |
Text |
author |
Paulson, Sarah |
author_facet |
Paulson, Sarah |
author_sort |
Paulson, Sarah |
title |
Coral species distribution and percent cover of sessile organisms on protected and non-protected coral reefs in Digir, Buga, Dubbir, and Kanir Kinnidup, Guna Yala, Panama |
title_short |
Coral species distribution and percent cover of sessile organisms on protected and non-protected coral reefs in Digir, Buga, Dubbir, and Kanir Kinnidup, Guna Yala, Panama |
title_full |
Coral species distribution and percent cover of sessile organisms on protected and non-protected coral reefs in Digir, Buga, Dubbir, and Kanir Kinnidup, Guna Yala, Panama |
title_fullStr |
Coral species distribution and percent cover of sessile organisms on protected and non-protected coral reefs in Digir, Buga, Dubbir, and Kanir Kinnidup, Guna Yala, Panama |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coral species distribution and percent cover of sessile organisms on protected and non-protected coral reefs in Digir, Buga, Dubbir, and Kanir Kinnidup, Guna Yala, Panama |
title_sort |
coral species distribution and percent cover of sessile organisms on protected and non-protected coral reefs in digir, buga, dubbir, and kanir kinnidup, guna yala, panama |
publisher |
SIT Digital Collections |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2730 https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3754&context=isp_collection |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection |
op_relation |
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2730 https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3754&context=isp_collection |
_version_ |
1766159147209850880 |