Coral literature annotated bibliography

This study presents a description of the little known coral fishery activities around the Maltese Islands. Apart from previously unpublished catch data on Corallium rubrum, this study also reveals, sporadic harvesting of black coral (Antipatharia) past and serves as a first record of Leiopathes glaberrima in Maltese waters. The data indicate that precious coral fishing was regulated on an arbitrary license system that was not based on scientific management. Both fisheries ceased in 1987, although personal communication with industry operators indicates that C. rubrum is still being unofficially fished on a reduced scale. As Mediterranean precious coral fisheries originated so long-age, and since so little is known about precious coral species' distribution, the presented historical data may help in evaluating baseline levels of population status and past anthropogenic impact. Finally, the study also highlights the importance of an evaluation of the current population status of precious coral species and a more effective curbing of illegal fishing activities to achieve the desired conservation of the precious coral species in question.

Space competition between corals and seaweeds is an important ecological process underlying coral-reef dynamics. Processes promoting seaweed growth and survival, such as herbivore overfishing and eutrophication, can lead to local reef degradation. Here, we present the case that increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 may be an additional process driving a shift from corals to seaweeds on reefs. Coral (Acropora intermedia) mortality in contact with a common coral-reef seaweed (Lobophora papenfussii) increased two- to threefold between background CO2 (400 ppm) and highest level projected for late 21st century (1140 ppm). The strong interaction between CO2 and seaweeds on coral mortality was most likely attributable to a chemical competitive mechanism, as control corals with algal mimics showed no mortality. Our results suggest that coral (Acropora) reefs may become increasingly susceptible to seaweed proliferation under ocean acidification, and processes regulating algal abundance (e.g. herbivory) will play an increasingly important role in maintaining coral abundance.

The density of recruits on caged and uncaged areas were compared in an experiment done to show the extent of predation on recently metamorphosed coral reef fishes.

The effect of analytical scale was investigated by examining local, regional, and geographic patterns for one common damselfish, Pomacentrus wardi.

Immense strides have been made over the past twenty years in our understanding of ecological systems in general and of reef fish ecology in particular. Many of the methodologies that reef fish ecologists use in their studies will be useful to a wider audience of ecologists for the design of their ecological studies. Significant among the impacts of the research on reef fish ecology are the development of nonequilibrium models of community organization, more emphasis on the role of recruitment variability in structuring local assemblages, the development and testing of evolutionary models of social organization and reproductive biology, and new insights into predator-prey and plant-herbivore interactions.

Presents a long-term, large-scale empirical test of the recruitment limitation hypothesis in a coral reef fish. Explanation for the abundance and demography of small fishes at spatial and temporal scales; Interaction of the nonequilibrial balance of variable recruitment with density-dependent mortality.Presents a long-term, large-scale empirical test of the recruitment limitation hypothesis in a coral reef fish. Explanation for the abundance and demography of small fishes at spatial and temporal scales; Interaction of the nonequilibrial balance of variable recruitment with density-dependent mortality.

Immense strides have been made over the past twenty years in our understanding of ecological systems in general and of reef fish ecology in particular. Many of the methodologies that reef fish ecologists use in their studies will be useful to a wider audience of ecologists for the design of their ecological studies. Significant among the impacts of the research on reef fish ecology are the development of nonequilibrium models of community organization, more emphasis on the role of recruitment variability in structuring local assemblages, the development and testing of evolutionary models of social organization and reproductive biology, and new insights into predator-prey and plant-herbivore interactions.

Projected global increases in temperature, sea level, storminess and

Visual census surveys were used to study the distribution of coral reef fishes that are associated with seagrass beds and mangroves in their juvenile phase, on various coral reef sites along the coast of the Caribbean island of Curacao (Netherlands Antilles). The hypothesis tested was that various reef fish species occur in higher densities on coral reefs adjacent to nursery habitats than on reefs located at some distance to these habitats. Of 17 coral reef fish species that are known to use bays with seagrass beds and mangroves as nurseries (nursery species), 15 were observed in quadrats on the reef. Four nursery species, Haemulon sciurus, Lutjanus apodus, Ocyurus chrysurus and Scarus coeruleus occurred in significantly higher densities on coral reefs adjacent to bays with seagrass beds and mangroves. Lutjanus analis, Lutjanus mahogoni and Sphyraena barracuda also had their highest densities on reefs adjacent to these bays, although differences between the distinguished reef categories were not always significant. It is suggested that these seven species are highly dependent on the presence of bays with seagrass beds and mangroves as nurseries on an island scale. Eight other species that are known to use seagrass beds and mangroves as nurseries did not have their highest densities on reefs adjacent to bays with seagrass beds and mangroves. For six of these species, juveniles were also observed on the reef. It is suggested that these species are able to use the reef as an alternative nursery and do not depend strictly on the presence of bays with seagrass beds and mangroves as nurseries.

The importance of seagrass beds and mangroves as juvenile habitats for coral reef fishes is still debatable. We hypothesised that the configuration of these habitats in the marine landscape in relation to the coral reef would influence accessibility from the reef (both for fishes that use these habitats for shelter or feeding, and their predators). In combination with differences in habitat complexity (related to habitat type) this could influence the utilisation of these habitats by juvenile reef fishes, and connectivity with the coral reef. Using underwater visual census, we studied the use by juvenile reef fishes of various seagrass and mangrove habitats situated differently in relation to the coral reef, on the Caribbean island of Aruba. Additionally, we studied fish assemblages on various coral reefs differing in proximity to seagrass @@iThalassia testudinum @and mangrove @@iRhizophora mangle@ habitats at the scale of the whole island. In the seagrass and mangrove habitats, habitat configuration in relation to the reef was related to the composition of the fish assemblage, species richness, fish density and fish size. This was consistent with our expectations related to accessibility of these habitats from the reef, and habitat complexity. Most fish species that use seagrasses and mangroves as juvenile habitats were absent from or showed reduced densities on coral reefs located far (>9 km) from seagrass-mangrove habitats. At a smaller spatial scale, this effect was less clear. For some species, this lack of an effect at smaller spatial scales may be explained by local recruitment to the reef, whereas for other species (i.e. @@iHaemulon sciurus@, @@iLutjanus apodus@, @@iL. mahogoni@ and @@iScarus guacamaia@) migration along the coast offers a more likely explanation. We suggest that the value of seagrass and mangrove habitats as a juvenile habitat should not be generalised @@ia priori@, since habitat configuration may interact with the degree of connectivity between seagrasses, mangroves and coral reefs.

organisms, either directly by anoxia, or by related hydrogen sulfide production. Increased sediment deposition is in many cases associated with other human activities leading to eutrophication, such as deforestation and topsoil erosion.

Duineveld, G. C. A., M. S. S. Lavaleye, M. J. N. Bergman, H. de Stigter, and F. Mienis. 2007. Trophic structure of a cold-water coral mound community (Rockall Bank, NE Atlantic) in relation to the near-bottom particle supply and current regime. Bulletin of Marine Science 81(3): 449-467.

On the SE slope of Rockall Bank, cold-water corals form dense aggregations on the top of elevated mounds supposedly because mounds give rise to topographically accelerated currents and thus enhanced particle supply. In 2005, a study was made of the trophic structure of a Rockall coral mound community by means of 15N stable isotope signatures. Simultaneously near-bottom current speed, turbidity, and temperature were measured on and off the mound to search for links between the predominant feeding mode of the coral community, the particle supply, and the physical factors governing the supply. The range of ?15N in the coral community was small in comparison to other deep habitats due to the absence of deposit-feeders. The ?15N of corals was very close to those of obligate filter-feeders (tunicate, bivalves) indicating that corals assimilate similar types of particles as these filter-feeders. Benthic lander deployments on the mound and in the adjacent gully and plains showed that currents were highest off mound. No major differences were found in near-bottom turbidity between the habitats at the time of the cruise. An 11-mo lander deployment revealed an extended supply of fluorescent particles to the mound community between early February and July 2005. Particle supply to the corals varied daily with higher concentrations associated with relatively warm and saline water flowing down slope. The collected data point to a simplified food web in the coral community sustained by an advection of fresh particles derived from production higher on the bank. The typical distribution of cold-water corals capping the mounds cannot be explained simply by enhanced currents relative to the adjacent plain and gully.

Florida Shelf. Theses and Dissertations USF. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/1943

The coral reefs of the Florida Keys are in catastrophic decline from nested multiple stressors. This includes direct and indirect anthropogenic impacts across local and global scales. Between 1974 and 1999, living coral cover on Carysfort Reef, Key Largo, declined 92 percent. Similar ecological degradation has occurred on many reefs throughout the Florida Keys, including Molasses Reef, Looe Key, and Sand Key, but there was no other formal documentation. Starting in 1995, the USEPA Coral Monitoring Project documented a 38 percent loss of living coral cover over four calendar years, documenting a decline from 10.3 percent to 6.4 percent.

Massive coral growth rates may be poor indicators of coral reef health where coral reefs are subject to combined eutrophication and sedimentation. Massive coral growth (vertical extension) rates on polluted reefs were not different from extension rates on unpolluted reefs, while live coral cover was low and bioerosion intensity high, leading to net reef erosion and death of the polluted reefs. These combined patterns of coral growth rates, coral cover and bioerosion were documented on reefs affected by land-based pollution in the Java Sea, South Sulawesi and Ambon, Indonesia. Acid-insoluble content in coral skeletons reflected land-based pollution stress on reefs more reliably than did coral extension rates. Coral skeletal density was lower on polluted Ja, a Sea reefs than on unpolluted reefs used as reference sites, but coral calcification rates,were not significantly different. The most eutrophied Java Sea reefs had net carbonate loss, indicating net reef erosion, while a fringing reef adjacent to mangroves and two unpolluted coral cays both had positive net carbonate production, Coral growth and reef growth were decoupled, in that coral growth rates did not reliably predict rates of reef accretion. The apparently paradoxical combination of normal to rapid coral growth and net reef erosion on polluted reefs illustrates the need for a whole-reef perspective on coral reef health. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The degree of association between groundfish and corals in Newfoundland and Labrador waters was analyzed on spatial scales of hundreds of kilometers. Groundfish diversity and abundance of ten groundfish species and two invertebrate species were compared with deep-sea coral distributions using standardized stock assessment trawl surveys conducted between September 2003 and October 2005. Standardized trawl survey data were stratified by depth and by five coral classes defined by large gorgonians, small gorgonians, seapens and/or cup corals, soft corals, and absence of all corals. Groundfish species richness was highest in sets containing small gorgonians. Various fish species were most abundant in coral-defined classes in specific depth ranges, but no coral class had significantly higher fish abundances than other coral classes at all depths. For several species, numerical abundance was greatest in one coral class at shallow depth, but wet weight per tow was greatest in a different coral class or depth, or both. Coral-structured environments may be important to fish and crustaceans at different life history stages. Although relationships between corals and groundfish or invertebrates are not obligate and may result from coincidence, conservation areas established for corals may effectively protect populations of groundfish.