Dynamics of the Benthic Communities of Pigeon Islets (Guadeloupe Island, Lesser Antilles) from 2012 to 2021 Monitored by a Photo-Quadrats Technique

Abstract

Since 2012, the benthic communities of the Pigeon Islets (Guadeloupe Island, Lesser Antilles) have been monitored biannually by the National Park of Guadeloupe using photo—quadrats. This monitoring was carried out at 12 coral reef stations distributed around the islets. The data collected from 2012 to 2021 highlight the significant events that disrupted the coral communities of Guadeloupe. Among these remarkable phenomena, an episode of coral bleaching occurred in 2019, followed by the appearance of a new coral disease, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD), in 2020. As a result of these threats, a drop of 54% of coral cover was observed in the monitored sites, accompanied by a rise of 16% of the surface occupied by macroalgae. The protocol set up by the National Park of Guadeloupe was found to be efficient to follow the temporal dynamics of benthic reef communities.