Abstract
The global and regional impacts of climate change are having devastating consequences on the coral reef ecosystems of the Caribbean. Long term monitoring are important tool for assessing reef health. Monitoring was established in 2000 in the Bahamas, Belize and Jamaica. Following the pilot project, the program was institutionalized in Jamaica and monitoring was conducted on eight occasions from 2000 to 2010. Monkey Island and Gorgo City near Discovery Bay (both on the north coast) and Southeast Cay at Port Royal on the south coast were selected. Macroalgae dominated the benthic substrate. Monkey Island and Gorgo City had the highest coral cover. Porites astreoides, Montastraea spp., Porites porities, Siderastrea siderea, and Agaricia agaricites were the most common species. Data from this programme have been used in local and regional coral reef assessment and management initiatives. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (Suppl. 3): 65-73. Epub 2014 September 01.
Highlights
In 1992 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted the vulnerability of low-lying island states to the impacts of climate change, as it relates to sea level rise and increased sea surface temperatures (IPCC, 1992)
This paper presents the results of the coral reef monitoring programme implemented under the Component 5: Coral Reef Monitoring for Climate Change Impacts of the Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Climate Change (CPACC) project that was carried out at three locations in Jamaica (Monkey Island, “Gorgo City” and Southeast Cay) during the period 2000-2003 and 2007-2010
Hard coral cover ranged from a low of 6.2% (SE±0.8) in 2002 to a high of 14.6% (SE±2.4) in 2010 at Monkey Island in Portland
Summary
In 1992 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted the vulnerability of low-lying island states to the impacts of climate change, as it relates to sea level rise and increased sea surface temperatures (IPCC, 1992). Since that time the impacts of hurricanes (Woodley, 1991; Rogers, 1993), coral diseases (Bruckner, Bruckner & Williams, 1997; Knowlton, Lang,, Rooney & Clifford, 1981) and the loss of the herbivorous sea urchins (Hughes, Keller, Jackson and Boyle, 1985), as well as overfishing (Hughes, 1994) and nutrient loading (Lapointe, 1997) have resulted in a decline in the health of these reefs Superimposed on these anthropogenic factors were the impacts resulting from climate change, elevated sea surface temperatures which have resulted in mass bleaching events (Jones, et al, 2008; Crabbe 2010). This paper presents the results of the coral reef monitoring programme implemented under the Component 5: Coral Reef Monitoring for Climate Change Impacts of the CPACC project that was carried out at three locations in Jamaica (Monkey Island, “Gorgo City” and Southeast Cay) during the period 2000-2003 and 2007-2010
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