A study on the recovery of Tobago's coral reefs following the 2010 mass bleaching event

MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN

卷:104

Article

Buglass, Salome¹  Donner, Simon D.¹  Alemu, Jahson B., I² 

[1] Univ British Columbia, Dept Geog, 1984 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada

[2] Inst Marine Affairs, Biodivers & Ecol Res Programme, Hilltop Lane, Chaguaramas, Trinidad Tobago

关键词: Coral bleaching;    Coral size frequency analysis;    Coral recruitment;    Sediment stress;    Eastern Caribbean;    Tobago;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.01.038

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

In 2010, severe coral bleaching was observed across the southeastern Caribbean, including the island of Tobago, where coral reefs are subject to sedimentation and high nutrient levels from terrestrial runoff. Here we examine changes in corals' colony size distributions over time (2010-2013), juvenile abundances and sedimentation rates for sites across Tobago following the 2010 bleaching event. The results indicated that since pre-bleaching coral cover was already low due to local factors and past disturbance, the 2010 event affected only particular susceptible species' population size structure and increased the proportion of small sized colonies. The low density of juveniles (mean of 5.4 +/- 63 juveniles/m(-2)) suggests that Tobago's reefs already experienced limited recruitment, especially of large broadcasting species. The juvenile distribution and the response of individual species to the bleaching event support the notion that Caribbean reefs are becoming dominated by weedy non-framework building taxa which are more resilient to disturbances. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free