The ascent to dominance of Family Poritidae on the coral reefs of southern islands in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 27 years after the first recorded crown of thorns starfish outbreak
Quinn NJ and Kojis BL. The ascent to dominance of Family Poritidae on the coral reefs of southern islands in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 27 years after the first recorded crown of thorns starfish outbreak. Northern Mariana Is. Coral Community
Twenty-seven years after an Acanthaster planci (L.) outbreak on Rota, Saipan and Tinian, coral cover has increased, but the relative abundance of coral species changed. Many of the reefs are now dominated by a species resistant to starfish predation, Porites rus (Forskal). A. planci and culcita novaeguineae Muller & Troschel remain present in low densities on most of the reefs surveyed and possibly continue to keep the populations of Acroporidae and Pocilloporidae low. The mean planula settlement rate was very low compared with those observed at other coral reefs at Guam, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. Eighty-seven percent of the recruits were from the family Pocilloporidae. The results of the mostly detailed subsurface seawater temperature monitoring for Saipan and Rota are presented.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Quinn, N; Kojis, B
- Units
- AMME
- Keywords
- Acanthaster planci crown of thorns starfish, Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands CNMI, corals, Observations, Poritidae, Rota, Saipan, Tinian