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Abstract
The decline of coral reefs in the Caribbean over the last 40 years has been attributed to multiple chronic stressors and episodic large-scale disturbances. This study assessed the resilience of coral communities in two different regions of the Florida Keys reef system between 1998 and 2002 following hurricane impacts and coral bleaching in 1998. Resilience was assessed from changes in coral abundance, diversity, disease, and bleaching prevalence in reefs near the remote off-shore islands of the Dry Tortugas compared to reefs near Key West, a center of high population density and anthropogenic influences. During the first assessment in spring 1998, Key West and Dry Tortugas coral communities had similar abundance, species diversity, and disease prevalence. Bleaching and disease significantly increased in all reef areas during the summer 1998 El Niño event, with Key West reefs exhibiting higher bleaching and disease prevalence and severity compared to Dry Tortugas. Acroporids and total coral abundance significantly declined in both regions during 1998 following mass-coral bleaching and hurricane impact, but remained reduced only on Key West reefs during the 5-year assessment. These results provide additional evidence that coral reef systems distant from anthropogenic influences may have greater resilience to large-scale disturbances.
Highlights
The Florida Keys reef tract has had substantial declines in coral cover and condition, and multiple factors appear to contribute, the specific causes remain uncertain [1,2,3,4]
Surveys in spring 1998 conducted prior to the large-scale disturbances of hurricane impact and massive coral bleaching showed that coral condition was similar in reefs near Key West and the more remote Dry Tortugas
There were no significant differences in disease prevalence in aggregate or for the three functional groups prior to the large-scale disturbances impacting Key West and Dry Tortugas reefs (Figure 3)
Summary
The Florida Keys reef tract has had substantial declines in coral cover and condition, and multiple factors appear to contribute, the specific causes remain uncertain [1,2,3,4]. Fossilized reefs of Florida coral communities show general stability for the last several thousand years prior to the rapid changes observed in the last four decades [5]. Recent reductions in the condition of Florida Keys coral reefs have included a 45% decline in live coral coverage between. Increased coral disease prevalence of 28% has been reported in the Lower Keys [7,8]. The Florida Keys reef track represents a degraded coral ecosystem that continues to experience periodic large-scale disturbances
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