Recovery of bleached scleractinian corals in Virgin Islands National Park St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
McLain LN, Rogers CS, Baker SW. 1989. Recovery of bleached scleractinian corals in Virgin Islands National Park St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Virgin Islands National Park. St. Thomas, USVI
This paper discusses coral bleaching specific to the St. Jogn, Virgin Island area. A total of 45 colonies were surveyed. Document includes a map, tables and graphs. The coral bleaching phenomenon appeared throughout the Caribbean and western Atlantic in the summer and fall of 1987. General observations around St. John, u.S.V.I., showed that at least 16 species of hard corals growing near the surface down to a depth of 25 m lost their zooxanthellae. The following species exhibited the most bleaching: D. labyrinthiformis, Q. strigosa, M. annularis, and A. agaricites. A total of 45 colonies of 5 species were tagged at 2 sites within Virgin Islands National Park. These corals were photographed and categorized as bleached, pale or normal periodically throughout 1988 and in January 1989. Some recovery of the bleached corals was noticed early in 1988. However, by the end of 1988, approximately 83% of the corals that were originally categorized as bleached or pale had not regained their normal color. Sixty percent of bleached corals and 21% of pale corals exhibited partial mortality 9 months after the beginning of the study.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- McLain, Larry; Rogers, Caroline; Baker, Sean
- Date of Issue
- 1989-03-23
- Publisher
- Virgin Islands National Park
- Units
- VIIS
- Keywords
- Coral, Coral Bleaching, coral tagging, Monitoring, St. John U.S. Virgin Islands