Effects of Hurricanes David and Frederic (1979) on shallow Acropora palmata reef communities: St Croix, US Virgin Islands
Rogers CS, Suchanek TH, Pecora FA. 1982. Effects of Hurricanes David and Frederic (1979) on shallow Acropora palmata reef communities: St Croix, US Virgin Islands. Bulletin of Marine Science. 32(2):532-548
The effects of storm damage caused by Hurricanes David and Frederic on the shallow water Acropora palmata dominated reefs of St. Croix was studied by labeling storm damaged branches (n = 100, per site) to assess their fate, and by censusing amount of damage by depth at each site. Sites included forereefs on the south side of Buck Island, Tague Bay and the southeast shore of St. Croix. Of the tagged branches, 66% were alive at Buck Island and 35% remained alive at Tague Bay 11 months after the storm. Most of these surviving branches had healed completely and some had new offshoot branches. The dead tagged branches were covered with algae. Broken stumps of branches and dead branches were colonize by over 30 species of algae and 61 species of sessile invertebrates (including 3 species of scleractinian corals. Agaricia sp., Porites sp. and Favia sp.). In the north shore study sites (including Buck Island), the mean number of fractured branches per square meter decreased significantly with depth.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Rogers, Caroline; Suchanek, Thomas; Pecora, F
- Units
- BUIS
- Keywords
- Acropora palmata, Algae, Animal Studies, Coral, Depth, Elkhorn coral, Hurricane David, Hurricane Frederick, Hurricanes, Impacts, Mortality