scholarly journals Fish and Fisheries of the Eastern Coast of Mexico, with Emphasis on Coral Reef Species

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos González-Gándara ◽  
Ernesto A. Chávez
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Fishing Pressure ◽  
Current Yield ◽  
Differential Abundance ◽  
Southern Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Reef Zone ◽  
Different Levels

The state on knowledge of fish communities associated with coral reefs of the southern Gulf of Mexico (Veracruz, Campeche bank), and eastern Yucatan on the Caribbean is reviewed, in addition to a description of the main fisheries of the area. The review includes coral reef fish of Veracruz, the Campeche Bank, and reefs running along the Caribbean coast up to the border with Belize. Data recorded suggest that the heterogeneity of different levels (region, reef and reef zone) may be responsible for a larger number of niches available, promoting higher specific diversity that is more evident in the Caribbean reefs. The environmental conditions create patterns of differential abundance among the three zones. The main regional fisheries include more than 60 species and the current yield suggests a 30% reduction compared to catch volumes recorded a few years ago. The changes in coral coverage and the fishing pressure over coral reefs have exerted effects on species of fishing importance.

An update on the diversity of marine sponges in the southern gulf of Mexico coral reefs

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5031 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-112
Author(s):  
DIANA UGALDE ◽  
JULIO C.C. FERNANDEZ ◽  
PATRICIA GÓMEZ ◽  
GISELE LÔBO-HAJDU ◽  
NUNO SIMÕES
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
New Records ◽  
Marine Sponges ◽  
Sponge Species ◽  
Southern Gulf Of Mexico

Until now, 127 species of marine sponges have been recorded in the southern Gulf of Mexico (SGoM). In this study, we describe the sponge fauna recorded on 16 coral reefs of the SGoM, defined as the Mexican waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), during a period from 2005 to 2019. We report 80 sponge species, including 34 first geographic records for the southern GoM region. The latter are fully described and illustrated, taking into account 24 that represent new records for the GoM: Agelas conifera, Agelas sventres, Agelas wiedenmayeri, Prosuberites carriebowensis, Desmanthus meandroides, Cliona aprica, Cliona dioryssa, Placospongia ruetzleri, Haliclona (Gellius) megasclera, Haliclona (Reniera) aff. portroyalensis, Neopetrosia proxima, Xestospongia arenosa, Calyx podatypa, Shiphonodictyon xamaycaense, Acarnus innominatus, Iotrochota arenosa, Polymastia tenax, Svenzea cristinae, Svenzea flava, Svenzea tubulosa, Svenzea zeai, Timea stenosclera, Stellettinopsis megastylifera, Suberea flavolivescens. The present work highlights the understimated and remarkable diversity of reef-associated sponges within the Campeche Bank Coral reef systems. Present work data was compiled with existing published information to produce an updated list of 161 known sponges in the southern GoM.  

scholarly journals Gorgonian octocoral community at Varadero coral reef in the Colombian Caribbean: diversity and spatial distribution

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson Manrique Rodríguez ◽  
Claudia Agudelo ◽  
Adolfo Sanjuan-Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Benthic Community ◽  
Associated Fauna ◽  
Ecological Characteristics ◽  
Access Channel ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Reef Zone ◽  
Large Vessels ◽  
Sedimentation Processes

Varadero reef has unique ecological characteristics and faces the risk of disappearing because of the dredging for an access channel of large vessels to the Cartagena port in Colombia. In this ecosystem, the sessile benthic community, such as gorgonian octocorals and associated fauna, will be impacted. We examined the diversity and spatial distribution of gorgonians from seven sites located in the mixed coral reef zone. These organisms are generally found in depths between 6 and 10 m in the area. The richness of the gorgoniansspecies is lower than that recorded in other areas of the Caribbean. The low values of abundance and richness species are due to the characteristics of reef setoff and sedimentation processes existing in Cartagena bay.

scholarly journals One Hundred and Fifty Years of Warming on Caribbean Coral Reefs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen B Bove ◽  
Laura Mudge ◽  
John F Bruno
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Thermal Characteristics ◽  
Marine Systems ◽  
Caribbean Coral ◽  
Coral Reef Ecosystems ◽  
Caribbean Coral Reef ◽  
Caribbean Coral Reefs ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
And Function

Anthropogenic climate change is rapidly altering the characteristics and dynamics of biological communities. This is especially apparent in marine systems as the world's oceans are warming at an unprecedented rate, causing dramatic changes to coastal marine systems, especially on coral reefs of the Caribbean. We used three complementary ocean temperature databases (HadISST, Pathfinder, and OISST) to quantify change in thermal characteristics of Caribbean coral reefs over the last 150 years (1871-2020). These sea surface temperature (SST) databases included combined in situ and satellite-derived SST (HadISST, OISST), as well as satellite-only observations (Pathfinder) at multiple spatial resolutions. We also compiled a Caribbean coral reef database identifying 5,326 unique reefs across the region. We found that Caribbean reefs have warmed on average by 0.20 °C per decade since 1987, the calculated year that rapid warming began on Caribbean reefs. Further, geographic variation in warming rates ranged from 0.17 °C per decade on Bahamian reefs to 0.26 °C per decade on reefs within the Southern and Eastern Caribbean ecoregions. If this linear rate of warming continues, these already threatened ecosystems would warm by an additional 1.6 °C on average by 2100. We also found that marine heatwave (MHW) events are increasing in both frequency and duration across the Caribbean. Caribbean coral reefs now experience on average 5 MHW events annually, compared to 1 per year in the early 1980s. Combined, these changes have caused a dramatic shift in the composition and function of Caribbean coral reef ecosystems. If reefs continue to warm at this rate, we are likely to lose even the remnant Caribbean coral reef communities of today in the coming decades.

Unexpected relationships between coral reef health and socio-economic pressures in the Philippines: reefbase/RAMP applied

2000 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Pollnac ◽  
John W. McManus ◽  
A. E. del Rosario ◽  
A. A. Banzon ◽  
S. G. Vergara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Waste Disposal ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Anthropogenic Effects ◽  
Fishing Pressure ◽  
Resource Poor ◽  
Reef Health

The paper analyses variables hypothesized to affect the health of coral reefs. These variables include fishing pressure as measured by fisher density and land-based human activities as indicated by population, relative wealth, waste disposal and aspects of land use. Findings indicating that the healthiest coral reef areas are characterized by higher fisher densities as well as greater increases in population density were, at first, surprising. In retrospect, the results fit perfectly with human ecological theory; where possible, people tend to migrate from resource-poor to resource-rich areas. Any synchronic analyses of the interrelationships between the condition of aresource and associated population size or density will probably be confounded by the dynamics of the populations dependent on the resource. Hence, there is a need to account for this dynamic when researching anthropogenic effects on coral reefs. The findings also indicate that less-healthy reefs are found in areas with a higher percentage of land devoted to permanent crops; this appears to be related to observed high levels of runoff from permanent crops.

Curidia nunoi sp. nov. (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Ochlesidae), a new benthic species from a tropical coral reef southern Gulf of Mexico

2013 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Winfield ◽  
Manuel Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Distal Margin ◽  
Benthic Species ◽  
Tropical Coral ◽  
Southern Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Tropical Coral Reef ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
A New Species ◽  
Coral Reef System

A new species of Curidia is described based on material collected from Sisal Coral Reef System, south-east Gulf of Mexico, Mexico. It is the eighth species of this genus described worldwide. Curidia nunoi sp. nov. is morphologically similar to C. wakabarae and C. andreae. Curidia nunoi sp. nov., however, differs from these two species by a combination of several characters, including: the posteroventral spine of peduncle articles 1 and 2 of antenna 1, the distoventral spine of peduncle article 4 of antenna 2, the distal margin of coxa of gnathopod 1, the dactylus of gnathopod 2, the inner and outer plates of maxilla 1, and the distal margin of telson. The global geographical distribution of the genus Curidia is mostly from tropical to subtropical seas; five species are documented in the southern hemisphere and three in the northern hemisphere. Only C. debrogania, C. monicae, and C. nunoi sp. nov. are restricted to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

Prominence of environmental and anthropogenic agents on the occurrence of coral reef bleaching syndrome and coral diseases

2024 ◽  
Vol 74 (10) ◽  
pp. 6139-2024
Author(s):  
MICHAŁ SCHULZ ◽  
ALEKSANDRA ŁOŚ ◽  
PATRYCJA SKOWRONEK ◽  
ANETA STRACHECKA
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Coral Diseases ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Anthropogenic Threats ◽  
Negative Factors ◽  
Main Relationship

Coral reefs are the most productive ecosystems on Earth. They ensure the conservation of biodiversity and are a live habitat for 25% of all marine organisms. The main relationship on the coral reef is the symbiosis between corals and algae from the genus Symbiodinium (commonly called zooxanthellae). The authors of this publication have characterized and described the factors limiting the occurrence of coral reefs, including: water temperature, salinity, access to sunlight, contamination, physicochemical and hydromechanical parameters of water. Moreover anthropogenic threats to coral reefs have been specified, including diving tourism, ecological disasters (e.g. oil spills) and the development of marine aquaristics. Rapid changes in the basic living conditions are dangerous for corals and their symbionts and may cause the unsuitability of the new environment resulting in diseases such as coral bleaching. Corals bleaching is a disease associated with the break of the coral and algae relationship which results in a coral reef death on a global scale. Awareness of these negative factors, often related to human activity, may allow us to better understand the ecological processes that are the basis of reef functioning and might enable us to prevent and oppose to the changes and ecological recessions of coral reefs.

scholarly journals Turbid Coral Reefs: Past, Present and Future—A Review

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 251
Author(s):  
Adi Zweifler (Zvifler) ◽  
Michael O’Leary ◽  
Kyle Morgan ◽  
Nicola K. Browne
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Reef Complex ◽  
Sediment Input

Increasing evidence suggests that coral reefs exposed to elevated turbidity may be more resilient to climate change impacts and serve as an important conservation hotspot. However, logistical difficulties in studying turbid environments have led to poor representation of these reef types within the scientific literature, with studies using different methods and definitions to characterize turbid reefs. Here we review the geological origins and growth histories of turbid reefs from the Holocene (past), their current ecological and environmental states (present), and their potential responses and resilience to increasing local and global pressures (future). We classify turbid reefs using new descriptors based on their turbidity regime (persistent, fluctuating, transitional) and sources of sediment input (natural versus anthropogenic). Further, by comparing the composition, function and resilience of two of the most studied turbid reefs, Paluma Shoals Reef Complex, Australia (natural turbidity) and Singapore reefs (anthropogenic turbidity), we found them to be two distinct types of turbid reefs with different conservation status. As the geographic range of turbid reefs is expected to increase due to local and global stressors, improving our understanding of their responses to environmental change will be central to global coral reef conservation efforts.

scholarly journals Evolution and connectivity influence the persistence and recovery of coral reefs under climate change in the Caribbean, Southwest Pacific, and Coral Triangle

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa C. McManus ◽  
Daniel L. Forrest ◽  
Edward W. Tekwa ◽  
Daniel E. Schindler ◽  
Madhavi A. Colton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Coral Triangle ◽  
Southwest Pacific ◽  
The Caribbean
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