1. Caribbean-Wide, Long-Term Study of Seagrass Beds Reveals Local Variations, Shifts in Community Structure and Occasional Collapse
- Author
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van Tussenbroek, Brigitta I., Cortés Núñez, Jorge, Collin, Rachel, Fonseca Escalante, Ana Cecilia, Gayle, Peter M. H., Guzmán Espinal, Héctor M., Jácome, Gabriel E., Juman, Rahanna, Koltes, Karen H., Oxenford, Hazel A., Rodríguez Ramírez, Alberto, Samper Villarreal, Jimena, Smith, Struan R., Tschirky, John J., Weil, Ernesto, and Hewitt, Judi
- Subjects
Costa Rica ,Population Dynamics ,lcsh:Medicine ,Marine and Aquatic Sciences ,Marine Biology ,Hydrocharitaceae ,Ecosystems ,Marine Conservation ,Marine Monitoring ,578.778 972 86 Arrecifes coralinos ,Biomass ,lcsh:Science ,Biology ,Reef ,Conservation Science ,geography ,Biomass (ecology) ,Multidisciplinary ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Ecology ,biology ,lcsh:R ,Marine Ecology ,Community structure ,Computational Biology ,Coral reef ,Vegetation ,biology.organism_classification ,Biota ,Marine Environments ,Monitoring program ,Seagrass ,Caribbean Region ,Productivity (ecology) ,Bioindicators ,Earth Sciences ,lcsh:Q ,coral reefs ,Ecosystem Modeling ,Ecosystem Functioning ,Environmental Monitoring ,Research Article ,Ecological Environments - Abstract
The CARICOMP monitoring network gathered standardized data from 52 seagrass sampling stations at 22 sites (mostly Thalassia testudinum-dominated beds in reef systems) across the Wider Caribbean twice a year over the period 1993 to 2007 (and in some cases up to 2012). Wide variations in community total biomass (285 to >2000 g dry m−2) and annual foliar productivity of the dominant seagrass T. testudinum (2000 g dry m−2) were found among sites. Solar-cycle related intra-annual variations in T. testudinum leaf productivity were detected at latitudes > 16°N. Hurricanes had little to no long-term effects on these well-developed seagrass communities, except for 1 station, where the vegetation was lost by burial below ∼1 m sand. At two sites (5 stations), the seagrass beds collapsed due to excessive grazing by turtles or sea-urchins (the latter in combination with human impact and storms). The low-cost methods of this regional-scale monitoring program were sufficient to detect long-term shifts in the communities, and fifteen (43%) out of 35 long-term monitoring stations (at 17 sites) showed trends in seagrass communities consistent with expected changes under environmental deterioration. UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR)
- Published
- 2014