Diversity and structure of sponge communities of the Isla de Aves Wildlife Refuge, Caribbean Sea, Venezuela

The History of a Remote Caribbean Cay, Isla Aves, and Its Terrestrial Biota: A Review and New Data

“…7). Spectral similarities in the very shallow waters off the eastern side of the fringing reef and over the fringing reef appear to have overestimated the extent of the fringing reef on the eastern side of the island compared to Villamizar et al (2019), who provided a recent map of Isla Aves and its fringing reef, reef platform, and part of the shallow reef around it; our mapping shows a further extent of the shallows and the full extent of the outer protective reef (Fig. 7).…”

“…Longitude is much harder to measure accurately and the earliest visitors to Isla Aves reported only latitude, resulting in considerably more scatter of values of longitude until about 1880, after which recorded longitudes were as constant as recorded latitudes. The most recent coordinates of Isla Aves measured in situ were latitude 15°40'08"N to 15°40'23.7"N (south tip to north tip) and longitude 63°36'59.9"W to 63°36'59.2"W (east coast to west coast) (Villamizar et al 2019). Mapping performed in October 2021 with remotely sensed images placed the island's present location at latitude 15°39'58.6"N to 15°40'16.7"N (south tip to north tip) and longitude 63°37'3.93"W to 63°37'11.37"W (east coast to west coast) (SKK: present paper).…”

“…Isla Aves lies within the Caribbean hotspot of biodiversity, one of 25 such areas designated for the world (Myers et al 2000). Various aspects of the marine biota of the reef at Isla Aves have been studied, including the fish fauna (Brownell et al 1973;Brownell and Guzmán 1974; 87 species in 65 genera and 41 families), corals (Yranzo et al 2014; 4 hydroid species, 36 species of stony corals, and 13 of octocorals), sponges (Villamizar et al 2019; 77 species), and plankton (Pereira et al 2018;191 species).…”