Coral Reef Recovery in the Mexican Caribbean after 2005 Mass Coral Mortality—Potential Drivers

Abstract

In 2005, an extreme heatwave hit the Wider Caribbean, followed by 13 hurricanes (including hurricanes Emily and Wilma) that caused significant loss in hard coral cover. However, the drivers of the potential recovery are yet to be fully understood. Based on recent findings in the literature of coral cover recovery in the Mexican Caribbean after the mass bleaching event and associated hurricanes in 2005, this study analyzed, through random-effects meta-analysis, the hard coral and macroalgae benthic development and potential drivers of change between 2005 and 2016 in the Mexican Caribbean. Therefore, we tested the relative effect of sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll-a water concentration, coastal human population development, reef distance to shore, and geographical location on both hard coral and macroalgae cover over time. Findings revealed increases of both hard coral (by 6%) and algae cover (by ca. 14%, i.e., almost three times the increase of corals) over 12 years. Although our findings confirm the partial coral recovery after the 2005 Caribbean mass coral mortality event, they also indicate rapid colonization of algae across the region. Surprisingly, only SST correlated negatively with changes in coral cover. Contrary to expectations, there was a significantly greater algae cover increase in the Central section of the Mexican Caribbean, which is characterized by a low population density. However, a constant discharge of nutrient-rich freshwater may have facilitated algae growth there. This study reports partial regional reef recovery, but it also indicates that local factors, particularly eutrophication, facilitate algae growth at a speed that is much faster than coral recovery.

Functional divergence from ecological baselines on Caribbean coral reefs

“…This period is so representative of the (poor) condition of many reef areas through the Caribbean (Jackson et al 2014). Before this period, coral cover underwent considerable declines related to thermal anomalies, hurricane impacts, coral diseases and coastal development (García-Salgado et al 2008, Eakin et al 2010, Contreras-Silva et al 2020), but since mid-2000s slightly (~ 5%) recovered, although with no evident effects on reef functionality (McField et al 2018, Elías Ilosvay et al 2020, González-Barrios et al 2021. In 2018 a new deadly coral disease impacted the region, triggering further coral losses (Estrada-Saldívar et al 2021).…”

Effects of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Outbreak on Coral Communities and the Benthic Composition of Cozumel Reefs

“…Climate-driven thermal stress has become a major force reshaping coral reef communities, threatening the persistence of coral-dominated reefs across the tropics (Hoegh-Guldberg, 1999;Hughes et al, 2018;Oliver et al, 2018). However, coral loss may also occur in response to other stressors or to multiple stressors that act simultaneously, and at times synergistically, to increase coral mortality or limit coral growth and reproduction (Darling et al, 2010;Ban et al, 2014;Elías-Ilosvay et al, 2020).…”