Puerto Morelos Coral Reefs, Their Current State and Classification by a Scoring System

Abstract

<jats:p>Marine protected areas have been established as essential components for managing and protecting coral reefs to mitigate natural and anthropogenic stressors. One noteworthy example within the Mexican Caribbean is the Arrecife de Puerto Morelos National Park (APMNP), where several studies on the coral communities have been carried out since 2006. In June 2019, we conducted a study in eight sites of the APMNP applying a coral reef assessment method based on biological indicators of both the benthos and the fish communities. In this paper, we present the quantitative results of our study and provide a qualitative criterion assessing seven condition indexes through a scoring system. We also present a statistical comparison with a previous study carried out in 2016. The general status of coral reefs was classified as regular due to the low values of coral recruitment rate and biomass of key commercial fish species. However, living coral cover average was above 20%, with a slight dominance of framework building coral species and the presence of low values of fleshy algae cover, these being positive indicators. Our study found a higher proportion of reef promoter elements and a lower proportion of detractors, compared to a previous study carried out in 2016.</jats:p>

Coral reef erosion: In situ measurement on different dead coral substrates on a Caribbean reef

“…This reef is situated in the back reef zone at a depth between 1.3 and 2 m and is part of a fringing reef system that runs parallel to the east coast of Quintana Roo from north to south, separated from the shoreline by a shallow lagoon. In general terms, this reef site is composed of patches of A. palmata , several of which are entirely or partially dead, patches of O. faveolata , scattered colonies of P. strigosa , Siderastrea spp., Agaricia spp., and Porites spp., and octocoral communities, a landscape commonly described for the back reefs of the region (Caballero‐Aragón et al 2020).…”

An Update of Knowledge of the Bacterial Assemblages Associated with the Mexican Caribbean Corals Acropora palmata, Orbicella faveolata, and Porites porites

“…(2) Puerto Morelos (20 • 52 14.29 N, 86 • 51 3.72 W) corresponds to a protected natural area called Parque Nacional Arrecifes de Puerto Morelos. Reef development in this area is minor, discontinuous, and distributed as patches limited to shallow areas (<10 m), where the species A. palmata, Siderastrea spp., and Pseudodiploria strigosa present high coverage [29,30].…”

“…species A. palmata, Siderastrea spp., and Pseudodiploria strigosa present high coverage [29,30]. (3) Punta Maroma (20°42′50.96″ N, 86°58′38.60″ W) (Figure 1) is an unprotected reef with larger reef development than Puerto Morelos and a continuous, shallow (<10 m) barrier 5 km long, as well as high cover of the coral species Acropora spp., Orbicella spp., Porites spp., and Siderastrea spp.…”

Dataset of coral reefs monitoring, Puerto Morelos, Mexico, 2019

“…Key commercial and herbivorous fish [2] were sampled using a 30 m × 2 m band transect as the sampling unit. Six transects were located per site.…”