Ecological Archives E095-173-A1

C. J. Randall, A. G. Jordan-Garza, E. M. Muller, R. van Woesik. 2014. Relationships between the history of thermal stress and the relative risk of diseases of Caribbean corals. Ecology 95:1981–1994. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-0774.1

Appendix A. Location and assemblage descriptions.

Given the large spatial scale of our analysis, reef geomorphologies and species assemblages varied somewhat among locations. The reef in Mahahual, Mexico (Location 1, 'reference') is located in the southern Mexican Caribbean. It is a fringing reef with obvious spur and groove formations and a well-developed fore-reef, reef crest, back reef and lagoon (Jordán-Dahlgren and Rodríguez-Martínez 2003). In 2012, the reefs of Mahahual supported approximately twenty species of scleractinian corals (Arias et al. 2008) and were dominated by Orbicella (sensu Budd et al. 2012 formerly Montastraea, sensu Veron2000) spp., Porites spp., Pseudodiploria (sensu Budd et al. 2012 formerly Diploria, sensu Veron2000) spp., and Siderastrea spp. (C.J.R. and A.G.J-G., personal observation).

The Tuxpan, Mexico reef system (Location 2, 'reference') is located at the northern-most limit of the tropical belt in the Gulf of Mexico. It consisted of six small (~ 0.7 × 1.5 km) atoll-like reefs with a reef zonation that included a windward reef, reef flat, lagoon and leeward reef (Chávez and Withers 2007). Twenty-nine scleractinian coral species have been identified in Tuxpan (Tunnel 2007) and in 2012 the reefs were dominated by large colonies of Colpophyllia spp., Montastraea cavernosa, Orbicella spp., Pseudodiploria spp., and Siderastrea spp. (C.J.R. and A.G.J-G., personal observation).

Reefs of Bocas del Toro, Panama (Location 3, 'frequent-anomaly') ranged from fringing to patchy reefs and were located on both the windward and leeward sides of the Bocas Islands. Coral diversity is high in this region with 54 scleractinian species reported (Guzmán and Guevara 1998). In 2012 the coral communities at the sampled sites, were dominated by Orbicella spp., Agaricia spp., Porites spp. and Siderastrea spp (C.J.R. and A.G.J-G., personal observation).

The reefs of St. John, United States Virgin Islands (USVI) (Location 4, 'frequent-anomaly') ranged from fringing to patchy and were located on both the windward and leeward sides of the island. Thirty-three scleractinian species have been reported in the shallow-reef zones (Rogers et al. 1991, Rogers and Miller 2006), and in 2012 were dominated by Orbicella spp., Siderastrea spp., and Porites spp.

Literature cited

Arias-González, J. E., P. Legendre, and F. A. Rodríguez-Zaragoza. 2008. Scaling up beta diversity on Caribbean coral reefs. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 366:28–36.

Budd, A. F., H. Fukami, N. D. Smith, and N. Knowlton. 2012. Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Mussidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 166:465–529.

Chávez, E. A., and K. Withers. 2007. Coral reefs of the Southern Gulf of México (No. 12). Texas A & M University Press, College Station Texas, USA.

Guzmán, H. M., and C. A. Guevara. 1998. Arrecifes coralinos de Bocas del Toro, Panamá: II. Distribución, estructura y estado de conservación de los arrecifes de las Islas Bastimentos, Solarte, Carenero y Colón. Revista de Biología Tropical 46:889–912.

Jordan-Dahlgren, E., and R. E. Rodriguez-Martinez. 2003. The Atlantic coral reefs of Mexico. Pages 131–158 in J. Cortés, editor. Latin American coral reefs. Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Rogers, C. S., L. N. McLain, and C. R. Tobias. 1991. Effects of Hurricane Hugo (1989) on a coral reef in St. John, USVI. Marine Ecology Progress Series 78:189–199.

Rogers, C. S., and J. Miller. 2006. Permanent 'phase shifts' or reversible declines in coral cover? Lack of recovery of two coral reefs in St. John, US Virgin Islands. Marine Ecology Progress Series 306:103–114.

Tunnell Jr., J. W. 2007. Reef Distribution. Pages 14–22 in J. W. Tunnell Jr., E. A. Chavez, and K. Withers, editors. Coral reefs of the southern Gulf of Mexico. Texas A & M University Press, College Station, Texas, USA.

Veron, J. E. N. 2000. Corals of the World, 3 vol. Townsville, Qld: Australian Institute of Marine Science.


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