Coral communities of San Juan del Sur, Pacific Nicaragua

Barrientos, Juan José; Ayala, Arturo; Castillo-Cárdenas, P Alexandra Álvarez del; Fernández‐García, Cindy

doi:10.5343/bms.2010.1058

Cited by 22 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…These communities were dominated by Pavona gigantea. The coral reef fish assemblages were less diverse than those reported for more developed eastern Pacific reef areas elsewhere, but were similar to those in marginal environments, such as upwelling centers (Alvarado et al 2011). The coral-rich area between Punta Gigante and La Anciana, a 13-km coastal stretch, was touted by Alvarado and co-workers as a hotspot-despite the lack of reef development-and in urgent need of protection and management.…”

Section: 11b) a Relatively Large And Vibrantmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…With an increasing knowledge of zooxanthellate scleractinian distributions, particularly during the last two decades, several workers have examined patterns of coral faunal distributions along the eastern tropical Pacific (Glynn 1997;Glynn and Ault 2000;Glynn et al 2007;Alvarado et al 2011), and within specific eastern Pacific countries and locations (Reyes-Bonilla 1993a;chapters in Cortés 2003; Reyes-Bonilla and López-Pérez 1998. The existence of a dispersal barrier within the eastern Pacific, the long-recognized Pacific Central American faunal gap (PCAFG), has been supported mainly by the absence of corals (Glynn and Ault 2000) and reef-associated fishes (Springer 1958;Briggs 1974) between Tangola Tangola (southern Mexico) south to the Gulf of Fonseca (El Salvador/Honduras/Nicaragua).…”

Section: Eastern Pacific Coral Reef Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The existence of a dispersal barrier within the eastern Pacific, the long-recognized Pacific Central American faunal gap (PCAFG), has been supported mainly by the absence of corals (Glynn and Ault 2000) and reef-associated fishes (Springer 1958;Briggs 1974) between Tangola Tangola (southern Mexico) south to the Gulf of Fonseca (El Salvador/Honduras/Nicaragua). However, the faunal similarity of newly discovered coral communities and reef-associated fishes in Nicaragua and El Salvador with central Mexican coastal areas (Michoacán, Colima) is very high, suggesting some degree of genetic connectivity across the PCAFG (Robertson and Cramer 2009;Alvarado et al 2011).…”

Section: Eastern Pacific Coral Reef Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recently described coral assemblages of El Salvador and Nicaragua are populated by a combined total of 14 (Alvarado et al 2011). No structural coral reef development has been reported from these areas (see Chap.…”

Section: El Salvadormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In July 2009, Alvarado et al (2010Alvarado et al ( , 2011 quantitatively assessed the composition of ten coral communities along the southern coast of Nicaragua, including sites in the Department of Rivas, Municipalities of San Juan del Sur,and Tola (11°23′ N;86°02′W and 11°07′N;85°47′W;Fig. 5.11b).…”

Section: Nicaraguamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Eastern Pacific Coral Reef Provinces, Coral Community Structure and Composition: An Overview

Glynn¹,

Alvarado

Banks

et al. 2016

Coral Reefs of the World

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Advances in our knowledge of eastern tropical Pacific (ETP) coral reef biogeography and ecology during the past two decades are briefly reviewed. Fifteen ETP subregions are recognized, including mainland and island localities from the Gulf of California (Mexico) to Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile). Updated species lists reveal a mean increase of 4.2 new species records per locality or an overall increase of 19.2 % in species richness during the past decade. The largest increases occurred in tropical mainland Mexico, and in equatorial Costa Rica and Colombia, due mainly to continuing surveys of these under-studied areas. Newly discovered coral communities are also now known from the southern Nicaraguan coastline. To date 47 zooxanthellate scleractinian species have been recorded in the ETP, of which 33 also occur in the central/south Pacific, and 8 are presumed to be ETP endemics. Usually no more than 20-25 zooxanthellate coral species are present at any given locality, with the principal reef-building genera being Pocillopora, Porites, Pavona, and Gardineroseris. This compares with 62-163 species at four of the nearest central/south Pacific localities. Hydrocorals in the genus Millepora also occur in the ETP and are reviewed in the context of their global distributions. Coral community associates engaged in corallivory, bioerosion, and competition for space are noted for several localities. Reef framework construction in the ETP typically occurs at shallow depths (2-8 m) in sheltered habitats or at greater depths (10-30 m) in more exposed areas such as oceanic island settings with high water column light penetration. Generally, eastern Pacific reefs do not reach sea level with the development of drying reef flats, and instead experience brief periods of exposure during extreme low tides or drops in sea level during La Niña events. High rates of mortality during El Niño disturbances have occurred in many ETP equatorial areas, especially in Panama and the Galápagos Islands during the 1980s and 1990s. Remarkably, however, no loss of resident, zooxanthellate scleractinian species has occurred at these sites, and many ETP coral reefs have demonstrated significant recovery from these disturbances during the past two decades.

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Section: 11b) a Relatively Large And Vibrantmentioning

confidence: 66%