Ecological Studies of Buck Island Reef National Monument, St Croix, US Virgin Islands: Report on February 1993 fixed transect surveys and post-Hurricane Hugo recovery of reef coral community composition
Bythell JC, Gladfelter EH, Hillis Z. 1993. Ecological Studies of Buck Island Reef National Monument, St Croix, US Virgin Islands: Report on February 1993 fixed transect surveys and post-Hurricane Hugo recovery of reef coral community composition. National Park Service
Results of continued monitoring of the recovery/response of Buck Island Reef after Hurricane Hugo. From the abstract: "The results suggest that there has been a gradual recovery of coral community structure at the relatively diverse site on the south forereef at Buck Island, although species richness does not appear to have attained pre-hurricane levels. Recovery at a low diversity/high coral cover site on the north backreef, which was far less severely impacted, was rapid immediately after the storm but appears to have slowed in recent years. Nonetheless, coral cover is higher now than before the hurricane. There has been no recovery of the formerly rich stands of elkhorn coral Acropora palmata at the third site, also on the north backreef. There are signs that other species such as Porites astreoides may be recolonizing the area, but coral cover remains extremely low. In addition to the fixed transect surveys, a limited number of permanent 1 m2 quadrats were surveyed on the shallow south forereef, an area that was almost completely razed during Hurricane Hugo. This revealed extremely valuable information on a recent mass coral recruitment event."
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Bythell, John; Gladfelter, Elizabeth; Hillis, Zandy-Marie
- Date of Issue
- 1993
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- BUIS
- Keywords
- Coral, Ecology, Hurricane Hugo, Hurricanes, Monitoring, Recovery, Reefs, Transects