Temporal dynamic of reef benthic communities in two marine protected areas in the Caribbean

Abstract

This study assessed the coral reef condition of two marine protected areas in the Caribbean: Guanahacabibes National Park, Cuba, and Costa Occidental de Isla Mujeres-Punta Cancun-Punta Nizuc National Park, Mexico, in a two-year period. The analyzed indicators for corals were live coral cover, diameter and height of the colonies, ancient and recent mortalities and abundance of recruits, which were evaluated in quadrats of 1m2. In addition, it was estimated the coverage by morphofunctional groups of macroalgae in 25×25cm quadrats and the density of the Diadema antillarum urchin in 1m2 quadrats. The results showed differences between countries at broad spatial scales (hundreds of kilometers). Reefs of both MPAs seem to be in different stages of changes, which have been associated with deterioration of Caribbean reefs, toward the dominance of more resistant, non-tridimensional coral species, causing a decrease of the reef complexity that may leads to the reefs to collapse. At scales of kilometers (within MPAs), a similar pattern was found in reefs of GNP-Cuba and different trends were observed in reefs of CNP-Mexico. The observed differences between CNP-Mexico sites appear to be associated with the current tourism use patterns.