Comparison of Two Reef Sites on the North Coast of Jamaica over a 15-Year Period

M James C Crabbe

doi:10.4236/ajcc.2016.51002

Abstract

This paper compares two reef sites near Discovery Bay, Jamaica, Dairy Bull and Dancing Lady, from 2000 to 2015. At Dairy Bull reef, with low macroalgal cover (8% in 2002 falling to 1% in 2015) and significant number of Diadema antillarum urchins (c. 5 m-2), live coral cover increased from 13% ± 5% in 2006 after the bleaching event in 2005, to 31% ± 7% in 2008, while live Acropora cervicornis increased from 2% ± 2% in 2006 to 28% ± 5% in 2015. Coral cover levels were at least maintained until 2015, owing mostly to a slight increase in A. cervicornis. Dancing Lady reef however was dominated by macroalgae throughout this period (cover of c. 76% ± 7%), with no D. antillarum and showed little decrease in the already low (6% ± 1%) coral cover in 2005. Growth rates for Siderastrea siderea were similar for both sites (7 mm·yr-1), while growth rates of A. cervicornis and A. palmata were 120.0 ± 30 mm·yr-1 and 71.0 ± 29 mm·yr-1 respectively at Dairy Bull in 2015. At Dancing Lady reef, A. cervicornis colonies which were present from 2003 to 2005 had disappeared in 2006, possibly as a result of the mass bleaching event. It appears that A. cervicornis was the most impacted species during the 2005 bleaching event, but was also the species that recovered fastest after its decline at Dairy Bull.

Highlights

Current challenges to coral reef sustainability include overfishing, destructive fishing practices, coral bleaching, How to cite this paper: Crabbe, M.J.C. (2016) Comparison of Two Reef Sites on the North Coast of Jamaica over a 15-Year Period
Live coral cover increased from 13% ± 5% in 2006 after the bleaching event in 2005, to 35% ± 6% in 2015, while live A. cervicornis increased from 2% ± 2% in 2006 to 28% ± 5% in 2015
Dancing Lady reef was dominated by macroalgae throughout this period, and showed little decrease in the already low (6% ± 1%) coral cover in 2005 owing to the bleaching event later that year

Summary

Introduction

Current challenges to coral reef sustainability include overfishing, destructive fishing practices, coral bleaching, How to cite this paper: Crabbe, M.J.C. (2016) Comparison of Two Reef Sites on the North Coast of Jamaica over a 15-Year Period. The fringing reefs around Discovery Bay in Jamaica constitute one of the best documented areas of declining coral cover in the Caribbean [1], where loss of corals and macroalgal domination has been due to hurricanes [2] [3], overfishing [4] [5], die-off of the long-spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum in 1983-1984 [6], and coral disease [7]. The fringing reefs around Discovery Bay have seen a number of climate-related challenges in recent years, notably several hurricanes [3] [8] [9] as well as a mass bleaching event in the Caribbean in 2005 [10]-[12]. Nutrient enrichment does not appear to have been a causal factor in the development of the reef macroalgal communities [13]

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Results

Conclusion