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Cozumel Island is of paramount importance for Mexico, because of the good state of its marine ecosystems, and as a touristic spot that attracts thousands of divers every day. Most studies about the local reefs have been devoted to those formations located inside the Cozumel Reefs National Park, in the southwest side of the island; however there are...
Citations
... En el lado de barlovento de Cozumel no hay arrecifes de franja extendida. Sin embargo, en algunas áreas las grandes colonias de coral forman una pared de arrecife distinta (Jordán y Rodríguez, 2003;Reyes et al., 2014). También en esta área de la isla se encuentran las crestas de algas más occidentales del Caribe. ...
... Corals are not the only benthic component or primary producers of coral reefs, with large proportions of the substrate being covered in encrusting calcareous algae, turf algae, macroalgae and a range of other sessile invertebrates (Francini-Filho et al. 2013, Reyes-Bonilla et al. 2014, Cowburn et al. 2019b. In this study, turf algae and encrusting calcareous algae were the dominant benthic components on all reefs examined, covering > 50% of available hard substrate, while (contemporary) coral cover was <15%. ...
... The most important driver of fish community variation in the Western Indian Ocean was reef geomorphology (Samoilys et al. 2019), which is the product of local topography and wave exposure (Andréfouët et al. 2006). While no statistically significant variation in fish community was detected with the amount of coral cover on reefs in East Africa (Samoilys et al. 2019), in Cozumel, the decline in coral cover due to local stressors and hurricane damage led to a reduction in smallerbodied reef fish and shorter food chains (Alvarez-Filip et al. 2011, Reyes-Bonilla et al. 2014. Some rocky reefs can provide high complexity, such as the south-west of Santa Luzia, where a wide (~1 km) shelf of gently shelving rocky reef provided high substrate complexity associated with high fish abundance and diversity (Freitas et al. 2019). ...
This paper presents the first quantitative assessment of the rocky reef ecology of St Helena, a remote island in the central tropical Atlantic. Monitoring data were used to characterise different habitat types found around St Helena. These findings were compared with 9 other locations in the tropical Atlantic, in different biogeographic, oceanic and reef settings, along with the environmental variables known to limit coral reef formation. St Helena’s rocky and boulder reefs had ~50% cover dominated by turf and other filamentous algae, with lower levels of sessile invertebrates (15%) and macroalgae (4%). Both coral and rocky reef comparison locations also showed a dominance of turf and filamentous algae, with higher levels of macroalgae and sessile invertebrates in areas with higher nutrient concentrations (e.g. south-east continental Brazil). Coral growth in St Helena appeared to be limited by cool average sea temperatures of 22°C, which is near, but not below, accepted lower thresholds for reef formation. The main trophic groups of fish found on rocky reefs in St Helena were comparable to other Atlantic rocky and coral reefs, with a dominance of planktivores, mobile invertivores and roving herbivores, with the major difference in trophic structure being driven by more planktivores in oceanic vs. continental versus locations. St Helena’s narrow rocky coastal strip varied little in terms of reef geomorphology, resulting in high homogeneity around the island. However, endemic fish were numerous, demonstrating that isolation has produced a unique tropical Atlantic marine assemblage.
... Coral loss in Florida, however, was significantly greater than the Caribbean average throughout this period (Schutte et al., 2010), while the survival of coral recruits and reef recovery were limited (Toth et al., 2014;. Protecting fish stocks does not necessarily reduce the cover of macroalgae, increase coral populations, or preserve or increase the topographic complexity that is critical to maintaining and increasing those fish stocks (Alvarez-Filip et al., 2009Bates et al., 2019;Bood, 2006;Coelho and Manfrino, 2007;Cox et al., 2017;Huntington et al., 2011;Idjadi et al., 2006;Kramer and Heck, 2007;Ledlie et al., 2007;Lowe et al., 2011;McClanahan et al., 2011a,b;Mora, 2008;Myers and Ambrose, 2009;Reyes-Bonilla et al., 2014;Selig and Bruno, 2010;Stockwell et al., 2009;Toth et al., 2014;Ż ychaluk et al., 2012). ...
Caribbean reefs have experienced unprecedented changes in the past four decades. Of great concern is the perceived widespread shift from coral to macroalgal dominance and the question of whether it represents a new, stable equilibrium for coral-reef communities. The primary causes of the shift—grazing pressure (top-down), nutrient loading (bottom-up) or direct coral mortality (side-in)—still remain somewhat controversial in the coral-reef literature. We have attempted to tease out the relative importance of each of these causes. Four insights emerge from our analysis of an early regional dataset of information on the benthic composition of Caribbean reefs spanning the years 1977–2001. First, although three-quarters of reef sites have experienced coral declines concomitant with macroalgal increases, fewer than 10% of the more than 200 sites studied were dominated by macroalgae in 2001, by even the most conservative definition of dominance. Using relative dominance as the threshold, a total of 49 coral-to-macroalgae shifts were detected. This total represents ~ 35% of all sites that were dominated by coral at the start of their monitoring periods. Four shifts (8.2%) occurred because of coral loss with no change in macroalgal cover, 15 (30.6%) occurred because of macroalgal gain without coral loss, and 30 (61.2%) occurred owing to concomitant coral decline and macroalgal increase. Second, the timing of shifts at the regional scale is most consistent with the side-in model of reef degradation, which invokes coral mortality as a precursor to macroalgal takeover, because more shifts occurred after regional coral-mortality events than expected by chance. Third, instantaneous observations taken at the start and end of the time-series for individual sites showed these reefs existed along a continuum of coral and macroalgal cover. The continuous, broadly negative relationship between coral and macroalgal cover suggests that in some cases coral-to-macroalgae phase shifts may be reversed by removing sources of perturbation or restoring critical components such as the herbivorous sea urchin Diadema antillarum to the system. The five instances in which macroalgal dominance was reversed corroborate the conclusion that macroalgal dominance is not a stable, alternative community state as has been commonly assumed. Fourth, the fact that the loss in regional coral cover and concomitant changes to the benthic community are related to punctuated, discrete events with known causes (i.e. coral disease and bleaching), lends credence to the hypothesis that coral reefs of the Caribbean have been under assault from climate-change-related maladies since the 1970s.
... Coral loss in Florida, however, was significantly greater than the Caribbean average throughout this period (Schutte et al., 2010), while the survival of coral recruits and reef recovery were limited (Toth et al., 2014;. Protecting fish stocks does not necessarily reduce the cover of macroalgae, increase coral populations, or preserve or increase the topographic complexity that is critical to maintaining and increasing those fish stocks (Alvarez-Filip et al., 2009Bates et al., 2019;Bood, 2006;Coelho and Manfrino, 2007;Cox et al., 2017;Huntington et al., 2011;Idjadi et al., 2006;Kramer and Heck, 2007;Ledlie et al., 2007;Lowe et al., 2011;McClanahan et al., 2011a,b;Mora, 2008;Myers and Ambrose, 2009;Reyes-Bonilla et al., 2014;Selig and Bruno, 2010;Stockwell et al., 2009;Toth et al., 2014;Ż ychaluk et al., 2012). ...
... In Cozumel, fringing, and patch reefs are mainly distributed on the south-western coast (Fenner, 1988;. Although the eastern coast of Cozumel has less developed fringing reefs, it contains the western-most algal ridges in the Caribbean (Steneck et al., 2003;Reyes-Bonilla et al., 2014b). Banco Chinchorro is a platform-type reef, and is the largest reef in the country (Rioja-Nieto & Álvarez-Filip 2019). ...
... In Mexico, currently available data have been recorded in the Pacific ocean (including the Gulf of California) primarily during oceanographic cruises (Hernández-Ayón et al., 2007Chapa-Balcorta et al., 2015), and scarcely from direct measurement in reef waters of Cabo Pulmo, a fringing reef in the entrance of the Gulf of California (Norzagaray-Lopez et al., 2017) and Huatulco, a fringing reef system in the Southern Mexican Pacific (Chapa-Balcorta et al., 2017), but still lacking direct data from the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean . Nevertheless, for the Caribbean and partially Gulf of Mexico saturation states have been calculated from satellite data and data-assimilative hybrid models to map the components of the carbonate system of surface water (NOAA, https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/oa/index.php), for the whole Mexican ocean by the bioacid program (https://www.oceanacidification. de/?lang=en), and from data on temperature, salinity, and nutrients from the World Ocean Atlas based on atmospheric pCO2 measurements for relatively small areas (Cabral-Tena et al., 2013;Reyes-Bonilla et al., 2014b). ...
... These records spanned from the late 1990s up to the middle 2010s. Also, all geomorphological reef zones were surveyed (Novak et al., 1992;Ruiz-Zárate et al., 2003;Steneck & Lang, 2003;Álvarez del Castillo-Cárdenas et al., 2008;García-Salgado et al., 2008;Álvarez-Filip et al., 2009Álvarez-Filip et al., , 2011Reyes-Bonilla et al., 2014b;Gil et al., 2015;Rodríguez-Zaragoza & Arias-González, 2015;Martínez-Rendis et al., 2016, Arias-González et al., 2017Renfro & Chadwick, 2017). Average coral cover has decreased from 30 % in the late 1980s, to <20 % nowadays, with a high variability among sites. ...
Coral reefs are highly productive and biodiverse ecosystems, that thrive in tropical marine
shallow settings. Mexico is one of a few countries, like Costa Rica, Panamá and Colombia,
that have coral reefs and coral-dominated bottom communities at both sea sides, in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, these are subjected to several threats. And the degree of environmental impact, for any single reef, depends on the human activities that take place in the vicinity of its location, as well as its distance from shore. Here, we present some of the real and potential threats that coral reefs have been faced in the last decades, like pollution, sedimentation, overfishing and ocean acidification. Also, some of the effects, like coral cover decline, community phase-shift or the substitution of corals by fleshy macroalgae as the dominant organisms at the reef bottom, decrease in reef tridimensional complexity and coral calcification are discussed. Finally, we consider that coral reefs are highly vulnerable to human threats, which are predicted not to decrease soon, and the existence of Mexican coral reefs is highly compromised if we do not increase our efforts, to create the favorable conditions for their healthy development.
... Coral loss in Florida, however, was significantly greater than the Caribbean average throughout this period (Schutte et al. 2010), while coral recruit survival and reef recovery were limited (Toth et al. 2014. Protecting fish stocks does not necessarily reduce the cover of macroalgae, increase coral populations, or preserve or increase the topographic complexity that is critical to maintaining and increasing those fish stocks (McClanahan et al. 2011a, 2011b, Bood 2006, Idjadi et al. 2006, Coelho and Manfrino 2007, Kramer and Heck 2007, Ledlie et al. 2007, Mora 2008, Alvarez-Filip et al. 2009, Myers and Ambrose 2009, Stockwell et al. 2009, Alvarez-Filip et al. 2011, Huntington et al. 2011, Lowe et al. 2011, Żychaluk et al. 2012, Reyes-Bonilla et al. 2014, Toth et al. 2014, Cox et al. 2017, Bates et al. 2019). ...
Caribbean reefs have experienced unprecedented changes in the past four decades. Of great concern is the perceived widespread shift from coral to macroalgal dominance and the question of whether it represents a new, stable equilibrium for coral-reef communities. The primary causes of the shift -- grazing pressure (top-down), nutrient loading (bottom-up) or direct coral mortality (side-in) -- still remain somewhat controversial in the coral reef literature. We have attempted to tease out the relative importance of each of these causes. Four insights emerge from our analysis of an early regional dataset of information on the benthic composition of Caribbean reefs spanning the years 1977-2001. First, although three-quarters of reef sites have experienced coral declines concomitant with macroalgal increases, fewer than 10% of the more than 200 sites studied were dominated by macroalgae in 2001, by even the most conservative definition of dominance. Using relative dominance as the threshold, a total of 49 coral-to-macroalgae shifts were detected. This total represents ~35% of all sites that were dominated by coral at the start of their monitoring periods. Four shifts (8.2%) occurred because of coral loss with no change in macroalgal cover, 15 (30.6%) occurred because of macroalgal gain without coral loss, and 30 (61.2%) occurred owing to concomitant coral decline and macroalgal increase. Second, the timing of shifts at the regional scale is most consistent with the side-in model of reef degradation, which invokes coral mortality as a precursor to macroalgal takeover, because more shifts occurred after regional coral-mortality events than expected by chance. Third, instantaneous observations taken at the start and end of the time-series for individual sites showed these reefs existed along a continuum of coral and macroalgal cover. The continuous, broadly negative relationship between coral and macroalgal cover suggests that in some cases coral-to-macroalgae phase shifts may be reversed by removing sources of perturbation or restoring critical components such as the herbivorous sea urchin Diadema antillarum to the system. The five instances in which macroalgal dominance was reversed corroborate the conclusion that macroalgal dominance is not a stable, alternative community state as has been commonly assumed. Fourth, the fact that the loss in regional coral cover and concomitant changes to the benthic community are related to punctuated, discrete events with known causes (i.e. coral disease and bleaching), lends credence to the hypothesis that coral reefs of the Caribbean have been under assault from climate-change-related maladies since the 1970s.
... The majority of Cozumel reefs are contained within one of these two protection schemes, with the only area of reef without any protected status adjacent to the main town (figure 1). Here, the development of cruise and ferry vessel terminals and tourism infrastructure adjacent to the reef is known to have caused widespread shallow reef degradation [29,39]-including declines in hard coral cover from 44% to 4% over the period 1995-2005 [39]-though the impact on MCEs is unknown. ...
... The majority of Cozumel reefs are contained within one of these two protection schemes, with the only area of reef without any protected status adjacent to the main town (figure 1). Here, the development of cruise and ferry vessel terminals and tourism infrastructure adjacent to the reef is known to have caused widespread shallow reef degradation [29,39]-including declines in hard coral cover from 44% to 4% over the period 1995-2005 [39]-though the impact on MCEs is unknown. ...
... In this study, we investigate how key benthic groups and fish communities, on both shallow reefs and MCEs, differ between the established MPA and heavily impacted sites adjacent to the main town and cruise port [29,39]. We specifically document shallow reef and MCE ecological communities and assess whether MCEs-by virtue of their depth-naturally provide protection from coastal anthropogenic disturbance. ...
Abstract
Widespread shallow coral reef loss has led to calls for more holistic approaches to coral reef management, requiring inclusion of ecosystems interacting with shallow coral reefs in management plans. Yet, almost all current reef management is biased towards shallow reefs, and overlooks that coral reefs extend beyond shallow waters to mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; 30–150 m). We present the first detailed quantitative characterization of MCEs off Cozumel, Mexico, on the northern Mesoamerican Reef in the Mexican Caribbean, and provide insights into their general state. We documented MCE biodiversity, and assessed whether MCEs adjacent to a major town and port, where coastal development has caused shallow reef damage, have similar benthic and fish communities to MCEs within a National Park. Our results show that overall MCE communities are similar regardless of protection, though some taxa-specific differences exist in benthic communities between sites within the MPA and areas outside. Regardless of protection and location, and in contrast to shallow reefs, all observed Cozumel MCEs were continuous reefs with the main structural habitat complexity provided by calcareous macroalgae, sponges, gorgonians and black corals. Hard corals were present on MCEs, although at low abundance. We found that 42.5% of fish species recorded on Cozumel could be found on both shallow reefs and MCEs, including 39.6% of commercially valuable fish species. These results suggest that MCEs could play an important role in supporting fish populations. However, regardless of protection and depth, we found few large-body fishes (greater than 500 mm), which were nearly absent at all studied sites. Cozumel MCEs contain diverse benthic and fish assemblages, including commercially valuable fisheries species and ecosystem engineers, such as black corals. Because of their inherent biodiversity and identified threats, MCEs should be incorporated into shallow-reef-focused Cozumel National Park management plan.
... In Cozumel, fringing, and patch reefs are mainly distributed on the western coast, with some of the most developed reefs (with structures that can rise several meters above the shelf) occurring in Cozumel's south-western area (Fenner, 1988;Muckelbauer, 1990;Rioja-Nieto and Sheppard, 2008). Although, there are no extended fringing reefs in the eastern coast of Cozumel, in some areas large coral colonies generate distinct reef structures (Jordán-Dahlgren and Rodríguez-Martínez, 2003;Reyes-Bonilla et al., 2014). Also, the western-most algal ridges in the Caribbean, forming structures up to five meters high, occur in here (Steneck et al., 2003). ...
Over the last four decades the Mexican Caribbean has experienced intensive coastal development, and change on the reef system condition has already been observed. This paper describes the reef system characteristics, at local and seascape scales, and discusses the current status and trends, considering the main research efforts from academia and Non-Governmental Organizations. To date, the coral cover of most reefs in the region is between 15 and 20%, following a slight recovery on mean coral cover over the last decade. During this same period, fleshy macroalgae and herbivorous fish biomass appear to have increased. At seascape scales, an increase of macroalgae and the loss of seagrass habitat have been observed. Considering that anthropogenic and environmental disturbances will most likely increase, the establishment of newly protected areas in the Mexican Caribbean is appropriate, but sufficient accompanying funding is required.
... Hard corals represent a major component of the benthic 329 community providing structural habitat in the shallow areas. Previous research has 330 reported large declines in shallow reef hard coral cover in the area without protection 331 on Cozumel, including at one of our study sites Villa Blanca [38]. At Villa Blanca hard 332 coral cover declined from 44 % in 1995 to 4 % in 2005 [38], which is more severe than 333 declines recorded within the protected area during this time [59]. ...
... Previous research has 330 reported large declines in shallow reef hard coral cover in the area without protection 331 on Cozumel, including at one of our study sites Villa Blanca [38]. At Villa Blanca hard 332 coral cover declined from 44 % in 1995 to 4 % in 2005 [38], which is more severe than 333 declines recorded within the protected area during this time [59]. We recorded current 334 hard coral cover at Villa Blanca at <1 % suggesting that further declines have occurred. ...
... This unprotected area is adjacent to Cozumel town with multiple cruise ships, passenger 336 and car ferries passing over and docking adjunct to the reef daily. In addition, 337 development of a large cruise ship terminal appears to have severely affect shallow 338 reefs [38,39]. 339 ...
Recent widespread shallow coral reef loss has led to calls for more holistic approaches to coral reef management, requiring inclusion of all ecosystems interacting with coral reefs in management plans. Yet almost all current reef management is biased towards shallow reefs, and overlooks that many reef species can also be found on mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; reefs 30 −150 m). This study presents the first detailed quantitative characterisation of MCEs off Cozumel, in the Mexican Caribbean and provides insights into their general state. We investigate whether MCEs within the marine park have similar ecological communities to mesophotic reefs outside protection, despite widely recognised shallow reef impacts outside the protected area. Results show some taxon specific differences in MCE benthic communities between sites within the protected area and areas outside; although overall communities are similar. Regardless of protection and location, and in contrast to shallow reefs, all observed Cozumel MCEs were continuous reefs dominated by calcareous macroalgae, sponges, octocorals, and black corals. Hard corals were present on MCEs, but at low abundance. We found that 42.5 % of fish species recorded on Cozumel could be found on both shallow reefs and MCEs, including many commercially-important fish species. This suggest that MCEs may play a role in supporting fish populations. However, regardless of protection status and depth we found that large-body fishes (>500 mm) were nearly absent at all studied sites. MCEs should be incorporated into the existing shallow-reef focused management plan in Cozumel, with well informed and implemented fisheries and harvesting regulations.
... Rodriguez-Martinez, 2003; Álvarez-Filip y Gil, 2006;Reyes-Bonilla et al., 2014). A escala de paisaje, es decir considerando los tipos de hábitat bentónicos presentes y sus relaciones espaciales, solamente dos trabajos se han llevado a cabo en el área.Rioja-Nieto et al. (2012) evaluó el efecto del Huracán Emily sobre distintos hábitats bentónicos y Rioja-Nieto y Sheppard (2008) caracterizaron los hábitats bentónicos marinos y el posible efecto del Parque Nacional Arrecifes de Cozumel en sus características. ...
La modificación en el paisaje arrecifal tiene como principales factores de cambio la
variación ambiental y las perturbaciones naturales y antropogénicas. Las Áreas
Naturales Protegidas (ANPs), cuyo objetivo es mantener la biodiversidad en el
tiempo, pueden beneficiarse del uso de herramientas espacialmente explícitas para
su manejo y conservación. En este estudio se caracterizó la variación espaciotemporal
del paisaje bentónico del Parque Nacional Arrecifes de Cozumel (PNAC) en un periodo de 11 años para determinar el posible efecto del área protegida en las características del paisaje. La caracterización de los hábitats se realizó mediante la obtención de porcentajes de cobertura de los distintos substratos bentónicos en sitios de entrenamiento visitados en 2004 y 2015, respectivamente. Los sitios de entrenamiento se utilizaron para construir mapas temáticos mediante la clasificación supervisada de escenas multiespectrales (RGB) de alta resolución espacial. Para el año 2004, se determinaron diez clases de hábitat y siete en el año 2015. Los mapas obtenidos tienen una precisión, de 78.33% (coeficiente kappa 0.74) para 2004 y 79.17% para 2015 (coeficiente kappa 0.75). Se determinó el área y compactación de cada parche, así como la fragmentación, la β-diversidad y conectividad de los hábitats para los dos años de estudio tanto en todo el Área de Interés (AOI) como en dos secciones de esta, una dentro del área protegida y otra fuera adyacente a al ANP. Al analizar las métricas de paisaje se observó que el área de los parches, el índice de compactación y de conectividad presentaron diferencias significativas (p<0.05) en el tiempo, caso contrario con la fragmentación y el índice de βdiversidad. Al comparar entre área con esquema de manejo y área adyacente sin esquema de conservación se observó que solo la β-diversidad y conectividad presentaron diferencias significativas (p<0.05) en la interacción entre los años de estudio y las áreas comparadas. Los resultados sugieren una tendencia hacia la
homogeneización del paisaje derivada de la perdida de hábitats, aumento en la complejidad de los parches y disminución de la conectividad. Por otra parte, los datos podrían indicar un efecto positivo de ANP dadas las estrategias de manejo que limitan el daño físico en el hábitat.
