Biodiversity of Coral Species in Selected Caribbean Regions
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Indiana University’s Center for Underwater Science (IU) has been monitoring shipwreck sites in the Florida Keys and Dominican Republic for more than three decades. This paper is a synthesis of all coral species data collected at six sites from 1988 to 2021 to understand biodiversity differences including alpha, beta, and gamma species richness. Our goal is to analyze biodiversity within the context of dispersal and historical legacy. Biodiversity comparisons of sites within the Florida Keys and Caribbean yielded similar results, but in comparing the two ecoregions, results indicated greater differences in biodiversity between rather than within ecoregions. Given these results, possible reasons for the biological trends were studied, including analyzing surface current patterns and the phylogeny of coral species. Results showed that both hypotheses played a role in the current biodiversity of ecoregions. This paper speculates that modern-day anthropogenic causes may be driving differences in biodiversity.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Ownership of the copyright shall remain with the Author, subject to IUJUR’s use and the rights granted by the Creative Commons license assigned by the Author. A Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license will be applied to the published work unless otherwise indicated in the Student Author Contract. The CC BY-NC 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the published Work non-commercially, and although the new works must also acknowledge the original IUJUR publication and be noncommercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
References
Ammar, M. S. A. (2009). Coral reef restoration and artificial reef management, future and
economic. The Open Environmental Engineering Journal, 2(1) 37-49.
Beeker, C. D., & Hanselmann, F. H. (2008). John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Assessment:
Mock 1715 Spanish Shipwreck. Available upon request.
Beeker, C. D., & Hanselmann, F. H. (2009). The wreck of the Cara Merchant: Investigations of
Captain Kidd’s lost ship. ACUA Underwater Archaeology Proceedings, 223–230.
Beeker, C. D., Hawley, K., Galloway, T., Haskell, S., Johnson, C., & Lagunas, A. (2018).
Photogrammetric Assessment of 1733 San Pedro Underwater Archaeological Preserve
and 1733 San Felipe Shipwreck Sites following Hurricane Irma (FKNMS-2018-040).
Available upon request.
Dubé, C. E., Bourmaud, C. A., Mercière, A., Planes, S., & Boissin, E. (2019). Ecology, biology
and genetics of Millepora hydrocorals on coral reefs. Invertebrates-Ecophysiology and
Management, 15-50.
Earth: A global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions. (n.d.). https://earth.nullschool.net
Favoretto, F., Mascareñas-Osorio, I., León-Deniz, L., González-Salas, C., Pérez-España, H.,
Rivera-Higueras, M., Ruiz-Zárate, M.-Á., Vega-Zepeda, A., Villegas-Hernández, H., &
Aburto-Oropeza, O. (2020). Being Isolated and Protected Is Better Than Just Being
Isolated: A Case Study From the Alacranes Reef, Mexico. Frontiers in Marine Science,
, 1-13. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2020.583056
Gardner Toby A., Côté Isabelle M., Gill Jennifer A., Grant Alastair, & Watkinson Andrew R.
(2003). Long-Term Region-Wide Declines in Caribbean Corals. Science, 301(5635),
–960. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1086050
Hughes, T. P., Baird, A. H., Bellwood, D. R., Card, M., Connolly, S. R., Folke, C., Grosberg, R.,
Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Jackson, J. B. C., Kleypas, J., Lough, J. M., Marshall, P., Nystrom,
M., Palumbi, S. R., Pandolfi, J. M., Rosen, B., & Roughgarden, J. (2003). Climate
Change, Human Impacts, and the Resilence of Coral Reefs. Science, 301, 929–933.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1085046
Lane, J. (2011). Mock Spanish Shipwreck Project John pennekamp Coral Reef State Park; Key
Largo, Florida. Indiana University Individualized Major Program Final Project
Submission. Available upon request.
Loiseau, N. Gaertner, J.C. (2015). Indices for Assessing Coral Reef Fish Biodiversity: The
Need for Change in Habits. Ecology and Evolution. 5(18), 4018-4027.
Moberg, F., & Folke, C. (1999). Ecological goods and services of coral reef ecosystems.
Ecological Economics, 29(2), 215–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(99)00009-9
Olinger, L. K., Scott, A. R., McMurray, S. E., & Pawlik, J. R. (2019). Growth estimates of
Caribbean reef sponges on a shipwreck using 3D photogrammetry. Scientific Reports,
(1), 1–12.
PBDB - Paleobiology Database. (n.d.). Taxonomic name search.
https://paleobiodb.org/classic/beginTaxonInfo
Rohwer, F., Youle, M., & Vosten, D. (2010). Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas. Plaid Press.
https://books.google.com/books?id=C1GVSQAACAAJ
Simonelli, I. (2008). 1724 Guadalupe Underwater Archaeological Preserve 2007—2008.
Indiana University Individualized Major Program Final Project Submission. Available
upon request.
US Department of Commerce, N. O. and A. A. (n.d.). The Global Conveyor Belt—Currents.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_currents/05conveyor2.html
Wilkinson T., E. Wiken, J. Bezaury-Creel, T. Hourigan, T. Agardy, H. Herrmann, L.
Janishevski, C. Madden, L. Morgan, M. Padilla. (2009). Marine Ecoregions of North
America. Commission for Environmental Cooperation. Montreal, Canada. 200 pp.
WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species. (n.d.). Taxa search.