1. Regional spatio-temporal trends in Caribbean coral reef benthic communities.
- Author
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Schutte, Virginia G. W., Selig, Elizabeth R., and Bruno, John F.
- Subjects
SPATIO-temporal variation ,CORAL reef monitoring ,CORAL diseases ,CORAL bleaching ,QUANTITATIVE research ,AQUATIC resource management ,ALGAL communities ,ECOLOGICAL assessment ,AREA studies - Abstract
The article presents a study which analyzes and quantifies the spatiotemporal trends in coral and macroalgal cover on Caribbean coral reefs over the last 35 years. It states that the study was based on the data from 3777 coral cover surveys of 1962 reefs conducted between 1971 and 2006, which were grouped into seven management regimes. Results of the study suggest that there are no changes on the regional coral cover average since the mass mortality of Acropora spp. and that the regional absolute coral cover declined by -18% in 1972. It concludes that the changes in Caribbean reef benthic communities were attributed to the disease brought by nature and human activities.
- Published
- 2010
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