Structure of the coral and octocoral communities of Isla de Aves, Venezuela, Northeast Caribbean. The Isla de Aves Wildlife Refuge is the northernmost portion of the Venezuelan territory generating 135 000km 2 of Exclusive Economic Zone. Studies on coral communities are scarce and old (1970s), due to its location 650km northeast of La Guaira Port and because it has military facilities. To upgrade baseline information we estimated size structure, percent live cover, species composition and abundance of corals and octocorals. We evaluated 16 sites around the island using the AGRRA Protocol (band-transects 10 m 2 ) between 1.5 and 21m depth (n=67 transects), and visual surveys conducted in other five sites. We recorded 2 327 colonies belonging to four hydroid species and 36 species of stony corals in 11 families. The values for diversity, dominance and evenness of the coral community ranged between 0.78 and 2.12 (SW), 0.15 and 0.61 and 0.57 y 0.92 respectively. Most coral species had relative abundance values under 3%, except Porites astreoides (25.57%), Pseudodiploria strigosa (18.22%) and Siderastrea siderea (14.44%). They were represented mostly by smaller colonies, between 3 and 30cm in maximum diameter and between 0 and 5cm high. A total of 13 octocoral species belonging to three families were identified. Pseudopterogorgia americana was the most abundant species. The mean percent of live coral (including hydrocorals) was 22.30% (SE=1.73) (15.45% for dead coral, SE=3.28). Dead coral had the highest percentage of dissimilarity between sites (9.21%) (ANOSIM) and 16.57% contribution (SIMPER analysis). Octocoral live cover ranged from 0 to 21.35% with a mean of 6.38% (SE=0.99). Research on benthic communities of Isla de Aves should continue, especially in the deeper areas, to assess ecological conditions. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (Suppl. 3): 115-136. Epub 2014 September 01.Key words: corals, octocorals, abundance, diversity, Isla de Aves, Venezuela.El estudio de comunidades coralinas en Venezuela se ha desarrollado especialmente en localidades como el Parque Nacional Archipié-lago de Los

The Los Roques and Las Aves oceanic coral reef archipelagos of Venezuela lie in a biogeographically unique and biologically diverse area of the Caribbean and possess extensive coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves and shallow macroalgae meadows. The geographic location of these archipelagos safeguards them from most Western Atlantic hurricane damage as well as the most severe Caribbean coral bleaching episodes. While the Aves islands remain uninhabited and are an area of low accessibility, Los Roques has been a managed national park since 1972. We here present an updated synthesis of recent research for these archipelagos as an aid to scientists and conservationists interested in these island groups for which no recent ecological reviews are available. Los Roques has been much better documented than Las Aves and is the largest coral reef marine protected area of Venezuela. It has about 1,500 inhabitants living principally from tourism and fisheries. Studies show that Los Roques possesses fish populations that suffer comparatively less fishing pressure and may serve as a rare benchmark for pristine fish communities elsewhere in the Caribbean. It has also successfully maintained its importance to seabird colonies for the last five decades, notwithstanding serious marine park funding and staffing shortages. A new baseline biological inventory for Las Aves is particulary critical considering the fragmentary information available for this archipelago. The relatively intact and resilient oceanic coral reef systems of Los Roques and Las Aves are of regionally significant conservation value and deserve much more conservation and biodiversity attention than so far accorded.

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