Ecological condition of coral reef assemblages in the Cuban Archipelago

Aragón, Hansel Caballero; Armenteros, Maickel; Perera‐Valderrama, Susana; Rey-Villiers, Néstor; Rojas, Dorka Cobián; Verdecia, Karla Campos; Menéndez, Pedro M. Alcolado

doi:10.1080/17451000.2019.1577557

Cited by 26 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Therefore, the most plausible explanation for the ongoing phase shift is the influence of global stressors (namely water warming) (Bruno et al, 2019) which is in line with the increasing sea surface temperature in the Caribbean Sea (Chollett et al, 2012;Chollett and Mumby, 2013). Diseases may have an important role as driver of coral reef communities (Lafferty and Harvell, 2014) and they have been reported as occasional stressors on Cuban reefs (Caballero-Aragón et al, 2019). However, no symptoms of disease were observed during the sampling, which is in contrast to other northern Caribbean reefs during this sampling timeframe (Walton et al, 2018), thus minimizing the potential role of this stressor on coral reef communities in JR.…”

Section: Cover and Diversity Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Agaricia spp., P. astreoides, and S. intersepta have substituted other massive and reef-building species in the Caribbean, such as Orbicella spp. (Green et al, 2008;Jackson et al, 2014;De Bakker et al, 2016) and dominate most of the Cuban coral reefs (González-Díaz et al, 2018;Caballero-Aragón et al, 2019). The dominance of these species likely reflects the response of coral assemblages to the global stressors affecting coral reefs (Bruno et al, 2019).…”

Section: Cover and Diversity Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Small-Scale Variability Dominates Benthic Coverage and Diversity Across the Jardines de La Reina, Cuba Coral Reef System

Hernández-Fernández

Zayas²,

Weber

et al. 2019

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Coral reefs are complex and biodiverse ecosystems that are undergoing significant change. Understanding reef composition and biodiversity at multiple spatial scales is necessary to track both large-scale and more subtle ecosystem changes. The Jardines de la Reina (JR) archipelago, located offshore of the island of Cuba, contains the largest marine protected area (MPA) in the Caribbean Sea but lacks multi-scale studies. In this contribution, we documented the diversity of scleractinian corals, octocorals, algae, and sponges across nested spatial scales spanning four orders of magnitude (10 1-10 5 m). In addition, we tested the hypothesis that species diversity followed a gradient along the ca. 200 km of reef tract. Across the archipelago, we examined benthic cover and species diversity within 255 photo-quadrats (25 × 25 cm) at 13 fore reef sites (two sampling locations per site, and 10 photo-quadrats per location). Small-scale (10 1 m) variability between photo-quadrats characterized the coral reef community structure in JR compared with local-(10 2 m) and mesoscale (10 4-10 5 m) variability. This finding suggests that biological processes (e.g., recruitment, competition) had primacy over hydrodynamics for driving the differences in reef community composition. However, the dominance of algae and low cover and diversity of scleractinian corals suggests the pervasive effects of global change on coral communities despite potential benefits provided by the MPA (e.g., oligotrophy and abundance of herbivores). There was no gradient of benthic community structure along the fore reef tract of JR; instead, a patchy distribution occurred in response to more subtle drivers acting at local scales. Overall, our multi-scale comparison was useful for differentiating the impacts of processes potentially impacting the JR reefs, thus providing important information to understand how reef communities are impacted by different environmental and anthropogenic stressors, and the potential benefits of MPAs.

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Section: Cover and Diversity Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cover and Diversity Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small-Scale Variability Dominates Benthic Coverage and Diversity Across the Jardines de La Reina, Cuba Coral Reef System

Hernández-Fernández

Zayas²,

Weber

et al. 2019

Front. Mar. Sci.

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“…Several broad-scale surveys in Cuban coral reefs included sites from Los Canarreos archipelago; namely: benthic communities ( Alcolado et al, 2010 , 2013 ; Caballero-Aragón et al, 2019 , 2020 ), mesophotic biodiversity ( Reed et al, 2018 ), and mesophotic fish assemblages ( Cobián-Rojas et al, 2021 ). In all of these surveys, the ecological metrics in Los Canarreos’s sites indicated rather regular conditions respect to other coral reef sites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coral reef fish assemblages exhibit signs of depletion in two protected areas from the eastern of Los Canarreos archipelago (Cuba, Caribbean Sea)

Navarro-Martínez

Armenteros

Espinosa³

et al. 2022

PeerJ

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Understanding the impact of marine protected areas on the distribution and composition of fishes is key to the protection and management of coral reef ecosystems, and especially for fish-based activities such as SCUBA diving and recreational fishing. The aim of this research is to compare the ichthyofauna structure in three areas in the eastern part of Los Canarreos archipelago in Cuba with different management schemes: Cayo Campos-Cayo Rosario Fauna Refuge (CCCR), Cayo Largo Ecological Reserve (CL) and non-protected area (nMPA), and considering habitat differences and depth variation. A total of 131 video transects were conducted using diver operated stereo-video (stereo-DOV) in November, 2015 in backreef and forereef along the CCCR, CL and the adjacent nMPA. We recorded 84 species and 27 functional groups suggesting high complementarity of functions. Several multispecies schools were observed along surveys, which explain the biomass peaks in some sites, mainly for Lutjanidae, Haemulidae and Carangidae. A concerning issue was the bare representation of critical functional groups and threatened species. The effect of sites nested within habitats was significant and the most important driver structuring fish assemblages, while MPA condition was not evident. Favorable habitat features (habitat heterogeneity and surrounding coastal ecosystems) are likely enhancing fish assemblages and counteracting the effects of pouching derived from insufficient management. We recommend immediate actions within a strategy of precautionary management including, but not limited to, the appointment of staff for the administration of CL, frequent monitoring and effective enforcement.

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“…Teniendo en cuenta los estudios anteriormente referidos y el criterio de que cada arrecife tiene su propia "personalidad" (McField y Kramer, 2008), es decir, presenta características intrínsecas tanto bióticas, como abióticas, y que específicamente los de Cuba, muestran gran variabilidad en términos de identidad y dominancia de corales a escala regional y local (Caballero Aragón et al, 2019), y el hecho de que escala empleada para su evaluación puede variar circunstancialmente, a criterio del autor, para ser mejorada con la práctica o para la adición de nuevos indicadores (Alcolado y Durán, 2011), este estudio se propone como objetivo establecer una escala específica de clasificación y puntaje de condición de salud, para seis indicadores ecológicos de la comunidad de corales, tanto para el hábitat de escarpes poco profundos, como para el de crestas de arrecifes, que permita comparar temporalmente las diferentes zonas de la reserva del PNJR.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Escala de clasificación y puntaje para la evaluación de las condiciones de salud de la comunidad de corales del Parque Nacional Jardines de la Reina, Cuba

Hernández-Fernández¹

2021

Intropica

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Para conocer el estado de salud de los arrecifes se han creado protocolos que permiten evaluar indicadores ecológicos sobre grupos focales de organismos que habitan en ellos. En este estudio se propone una escala específica, de clasificación y puntaje de condición de salud, para seis indicadores ecológicos (densidad, número de especies por transecto, cobertura, muerte antigua, muerte reciente y densidad de reclutas) de la comunidad de corales del Parque Nacional Jardines de la Reina. Se estudiaron 29 sitios de buceo autónomo SCUBA, situados en escarpes poco profundos y designados como sitios de referencia, que fueron comparados con otros 52 sitios no utilizados para el buceo. También se estudiaron 27 crestas de arrecifes, usando como sitio de referencia la más conservada del área de estudio (La Puntica). Se aplicó la prueba no paramétrica de Kruskal Wallis y se realizó un análisis de frecuencia a través del programa Statistica 7. Para los indicadores ecológicos evaluados se propusieron cambios en la escala específica, con respecto a la sugerida para Cuba y el Gran Caribe, adecuando los niveles de la nueva escala a valores obtenidos en un análisis integral y teniendo en cuenta, fundamentalmente, los sitios de referencia. Con una condición de “Muy buena”, se clasificó la densidad con valores >20 colonias 10 m-1 en escarpes y >14 colonias 10 m-1 en crestas. El número de especies, >10 en escarpes y ≥6 en crestas. La cobertura >30 % para ambos hábitats. Muerte antigua ≤10 % para ambos hábitats. Mortalidad reciente, ≤1 % para ambos hábitats. Densidad poblacional de reclutas, >20 reclutas m-2 en escarpes y >10 reclutas m-2 en crestas. Se recomienda la creación de una escala específica de clasificación y puntaje para la condición de salud en cada AMPs, que permitiría realizar acciones de manejo acorde a características intrínsecas de sus arrecifes coralinos.

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Ecological condition of coral reef assemblages in the Cuban Archipelago

Cited by 26 publications

References 37 publications

Small-Scale Variability Dominates Benthic Coverage and Diversity Across the Jardines de La Reina, Cuba Coral Reef System

Small-Scale Variability Dominates Benthic Coverage and Diversity Across the Jardines de La Reina, Cuba Coral Reef System

Coral reef fish assemblages exhibit signs of depletion in two protected areas from the eastern of Los Canarreos archipelago (Cuba, Caribbean Sea)

Escala de clasificación y puntaje para la evaluación de las condiciones de salud de la comunidad de corales del Parque Nacional Jardines de la Reina, Cuba

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