Effects of Hurricane Dean and tropical storm Karl on the coral reef fish assemblage of Banco Chinchorro: temporal changes in rarity, and alpha and beta taxonomic diversity

Ibarra-García, Esmeralda C.; Cáceres, Ignacio; Ortiz, Marco; Rodríguez-Troncoso, Alma Paola; Ríos‐Jara, Eduardo; Cupul-Magaña, Amílcar Leví; Rivas, María del Carmen García; Rodríguez‐Zaragoza, Fabián Alejandro

doi:10.1007/s42974-022-00093-8

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…There are studies on reef extensions far from human population centers in the Caribbean ( e.g. , Sanvicente-Añorve et al, 2014 ; Aguilar-Perera et al, 2018 ; Ibarra-García et al, 2022 ), but as a consequence of their remoteness, they are less represented in the literature than reefs close to human settlements. The study of remote reefs can provide useful information on the effects of regional and global pressures and represents a unique opportunity to document whether the degradation observed in reefs close to coastal population centers is reflected in more remote areas ( Alcolado et al, 2010 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A decade of study on the condition of western Cuban coral reefs, with low human impact

Caballero-Aragón,

Perera-Valderrama,

Cobián-Rojas

et al. 2023

PeerJ

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Background The long-time study of coral reefs with low human impacts can provide information on the effects of regional pressures like climate change, and is an opportunity to document how these pressures are reflected in coral communities. An example of minimal local anthropogenic impacts are the Guanahacabibes coral reefs, located in the westernmost region of Cuba. The objectives of this study were: to evaluate the temporal variability of six benthic biological indicators of coral reefs, and to explore the possible relationship between predictive abiotic variables and biological response variables. Methods Four coral reef sites were sampled between 2008 and 2017, to analyze biological indicators (living coral cover, fleshy algae index, coral species richness, coral species abundance, coral trait groups species abundance, Functional Reef Index). Seven abiotic variables (wave exposure, sea surface temperature, degree heating week, chlorophyll-a concentration, particulate organic carbon, photosynthetically available radiation, and the diffuse attenuation coefficient) were compiled between 2007 and 2016, from remote sensing datasets, to analyze their relationship with the biological indicators. Permanova statistical analysis was used to evaluate trends in biological variables between sites and years, and Routine Analysis Based on Linear Distances (DISTLM) was used to explore some dependencies between biotic and abiotic variables. Results We found significant variability in the temporal analysis, with a decrease in living coral cover, a decline in the predominance of the branching and massive framework reef-building species, a decline in Orbicella species abundance, and an increase in the fleshy algae index. Some abiotic variables (average of degree heating weeks, standard deviation of the diffuse attenuation coefficient, average of the sea surface temperature, among others) significantly explained the variability of biological indicators; however, determination coefficients were low. Conclusions Certain decrease in the functionality of the coral reef was appreciated, taking into account the predominance of secondary and nom-massive framework reef-building species in the last years. A weak association between abiotic and biological variables was found in the temporal analysis. The current scenario of the condition of the coral reefs seems to be regulated by the global effects of climate change, weakly associated effects, and in longer terms.

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