Local variability but landscape stability in coral reef communities following repeated hurricane impacts

Bythell, John; Hillis-Starr, Zandy; Rogers, Caroline

Coral recruitment, survivorship after hurricanes, and resiliency of coral populations in the Virgin Islands are studies in this report. Coral reef community structure has remained remarkably stable over a 10 yr period within a small protected marine area despite repeated hurricane impacts. Local community dynamics have been highly variable, however. Sites that were destroyed by disease in the 1970s are showing little or no recovery, while sites less than a kilometre away that were devastated by Hurrican Hugo in 1989 are recovering well. Strong coral recruitment has occurred in shallow, exposed areas that showed the greastest hurricane impacts, and these areas are now more species rich than in 1988, although coral cover has not reached pre-hurricane levels. Coral colony survivorship has been high throughout most of the study area. Partial mortality rates were elevated for several years following Hurricane Hugo, but significant whole coral-head mortality only occurred during periods witrh hurrican impact and only at the most exposed sites. Overall, the coral community has proved resilient to closely repeated major hurricane impacts. From a single case study we cannot attribute this resilience to the relatively low level of human impact, but grazing fish populations have apparently remained high enough to keep macroalgae in check despite the mass mortality of the herbivore Diabema antillarum. Abstract provided by author.

Local variability but landscape stability in coral reef communities following repeated hurricane impacts

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