Abstract
Coastal development and urbanization have increased the sediments that are washed from the land surface, producing adverse effects on the structure and functioning of coral reefs. The objective of this study was to identify the degree to which excessive sediments have disturbed the fish community in the coral reefs in the Maguey and Violin bays, located in the Huatulco National Park (Mexico). Fish samples were collected before and after disturbances produced by sediments associated with coastal development projects. Indicators of changes in the fish communities included the number and diversity of species as well as equity and dominance before and after the disturbances. The analysis was performed through means comparison tests, similarity analysis (ANOSIM) and similarity percentage analysis (SIMPER). In both locations, it was observed that the diversity, evenness, abundance and number of species were higher prior to the disturbance, but not for dominance, which shows an inverse pattern. In Maguey, significant differences in evenness and dominance were observed (U = 28, p = 0.0401; U = 24, p = 0.0472), as well as in species composition and abundance (ANOSIM = 0.35, p = 0.009). The similarity percentage analysis (SIMPER) indicated that after the disturbance, more than 46 % of the species showed decreases in average abundance, highlighting the absence of Prionurus laticlavius, as well as the decrease in abundance of: P. punctatus, Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus, Microspathodon dorsalis, Lutjanus novemfaciatus and Stegates acapulcoensis. Inadequate planning and implementation of coastal development projects that contribute to the discharge of excessive sediments into the sea were determinants of negative changes in the coral communities in Maguey and Violin, whose effects could be seen in the composition of the species and the abundance, equity, and dominance of the fish community in Maguey.
Highlights
Los arrecifes coralinos son considerados como uno de los ecosistemas marinos de mayor vulnerabilidad, ya que durante las tres últimas décadas se ha observado la degradación y extensa mortalidad de corales pétreos, en áreas cercanas a desarrollos humanos, así como en arrecifes remotos y aislados (Hoegh-Guldberg, 1999; Burke, Reytar, Spalding, & Perry, 2011)
A este respecto, los arrecifes coralinos son particularmente sensibles a incrementos en las tasas de sedimentación, ya que se altera la composición y estructura de la comunidad, así como se modifica la frecuencia de tallas, tamaño de las colonias coralinas, y minimiza las tasas de supervivencia y establecimiento (Piniak & Brown, 2008; Erftemeijer, Hagedorn, Laterveer, Craggs, & Guest, 2012a), propiciando cambios en otros miembros de la fauna arrecifal, incluidos los peces (Rogers, 1990; Syms & Jones, 2000; Wenger, Johansen, & Jones, 2011)
Syms & Jones (2000), así como Glynn (2006), señalan que las especies que probablemente se beneficien de la perdida coralina y degradación arrecifal, son las de tallas pequeñas, generalistas y herbívoros que habitan áreas de bajo relieve y escombro, como algunas especies de labridos, blenidos y algunos pomacéntridos, lo anterior coincide con el incremento en la abundancia de las especies pertenecientes al género Halichoeres, así como para: T. lucasanum, S. rectifraenum, S. compressus y O. steindachneri, las cuales presentan su mayor abundancia en áreas de escaso relieve como escombro coralino, coral muerto y ambientes con una dominancia del sustrato arenoso (Dominici-Arosemena & Wolff, 2006; López-Pérez et al, 2012; Juárez-Hernández & Tapia-García, 2017)
Summary
Los arrecifes coralinos son considerados como uno de los ecosistemas marinos de mayor vulnerabilidad, ya que durante las tres últimas décadas se ha observado la degradación y extensa mortalidad de corales pétreos, en áreas cercanas a desarrollos humanos, así como en arrecifes remotos y aislados (Hoegh-Guldberg, 1999; Burke, Reytar, Spalding, & Perry, 2011). Para el área de estudio, no existen antecedentes de la influencia de los factores asociados al desarrollo costero en la ictiofauna, por lo tanto y considerando la importancia de conocer el efecto del aporte de sedimentos por obras de desarrollo hacia estos ecosistemas, el objetivo del estudio fue determinar los cambios en la estructura de las comunidades de peces de las bahías Maguey y Violín antes y después de la perturbación.
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