Abstract
Ecological impacts of military bombing activities in Puerto Rico have often been described as minimal, with recurrent allegations of confounding effects by hurricanes, coral diseases and local anthropogenic stressors. Reef craters, though isolated, are associated with major colony fragmentation and framework pulverization, with a net permanent loss of reef bio-construction. In contrast, adjacent non-bombarded reef sections have significantly higher benthic spatial relief and biodiversity. We compared benthic communities on 35-50 year-old bomb-cratered coral reefs at Culebra and Vieques Islands, with adjacent non-impacted sites; 2) coral recruit density and fish community structure within and outside craters; and 3) early effects of a rehabilitation effort using low-tech Staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis farming. Reef craters ranged in size from approximately 50 to 400m2 and were largely dominated by heavily fragmented, flattened benthos, with coral cover usually below 2% and dominance by non-reef building taxa (i.e., filamentous algal turfs, macroalgae). Benthic spatial heterogeneity was lower within craters which also resulted in a lowered functional value as fish nursery ground. Fish species richness, abundance and biomass, and coral recruit density were lower within craters. Low-tech, community-based approaches to culture, harvest and transplant A. cervicornis into formerly bombarded grounds have proved successful in increasing percent coral cover, benthic spatial heterogeneity, and helping rehabilitate nursery ground functions. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (Suppl. 3): 183-200. Epub 2014 September 01.
Highlights
Long-term adverse ecological impacts of military maneuvers on coral reef ecosystems have remained as a concern as there is still limited information in the literature about impacts across multiple spatial and temporal scales
Most studies have often focused on very large spatial scale assessments, which have by default often overlooked some of the acute impacts on bomb-cratered coral reefs at smaller spatial scales
Reef craters present in both, Culebra and Vieques Islands coral reefs are often very small in comparison to the scale of each island, each ranging in size from approximately 50 to 400m2
Summary
Long-term adverse ecological impacts of military maneuvers on coral reef ecosystems have remained as a concern as there is still limited information in the literature about impacts across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Blast fishing impacts have caused significant loss of coral cover, an increase in the amount of bare substrate and rubble, and a decline in fish species richness and abundance (Riegl & Luke, 1999). These authors suggested that natural regeneration of impacted reef communities is likely to be very slow, possibly taking several hundred years, and that rehabilitation would be difficult since coral transplants would have to mimic the previously existing community. This study was aimed at: 1) documenting the condition of benthic communities within 35-50 year-old reef craters at Culebra and Vieques Islands, Puerto Rico, in comparison to adjacent non-bombarded sites within former military maneuver sites; 2) comparing coral recruit density and fish community structure within and outside reef craters; and. 3) addressing the preliminary impacts of a community-based bombarded coral reef rehabilitation effort using low-tech approaches to cultivate threatened staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis (Lamarck, 1816), and rehabilitate bombarded coral reefs
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