Greater Caribbean Research Articles

Ecological drivers of parrotfish coral predation vary across spatial scales

Parrotfishes (Labridae: Scarini) are widely recognized for their important functional role in reducing coral-algae competition by grazing algae, yet some species are also coral predators (corallivores) and thereby have direct negative impacts on corals they prey upon. To better understand the ecological drivers of parrotfish corallivory intensity, we compared patterns of relative predation scar size and abundance across spatial scales from individual coral colonies (<1 to several meters in size), to reefs within islands (1 to 10s of km), to 4 regions across the Greater Caribbean (100s to 1000s of km) including Panamá, Florida, St. Croix, and Bonaire. Across reef sites, there was a positive correlation of both parrotfish density and biomass with the relative coral area preyed upon, but not predation scar abundance. While there was no apparent site-level effect of coral cover on corallivory intensity, we found that the abundance of colonies preyed upon was positively correlated with both coral diversity and the proportional cover of frequently targeted coral taxa within localized 30 m2 reef areas. At the scale of individual coral colonies, we found that while numerous coral taxa were preyed upon, corallivory was concentrated on a few species across regions, such as Orbicella spp., Porites spp., and Stephanocoenia intersepta. Our findings suggest that while increased parrotfish densities may result in an increased coral area preyed upon across reefs, corallivory intensity within reefs may decrease in response to declines in the cover of frequently targeted coral taxa and overall coral diversity.Spanish and Papiamentu versions of the abstract are provided in the Supplement at www.int-res.com/articles/suppl/m740p145_supp.pdf

Species delimitation in the sailfin blenny (Emblemaria pandionis) reveals cryptic endemic species diversity in the Greater Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico

Species delimitation in the sailfin blenny (Emblemaria pandionis) reveals cryptic endemic species diversity in the Greater Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico

Karyotypic stasis and its implications for extensive hybridization events in corallivores species of butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae)

The butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae), emblematic inhabitants of coral reef environments, encompass the majority of known coralivorous species and show one of the highest hybridization rates known among vertebrates, making them an important evolutionary model. The vast knowledge about their life history and phylogenetic relationships contrasts with scarce information on their karyotype evolution. Aiming to expand the cytogenetic data of butterflyfishes and evaluate their karyotype evolution in association with evolutionary aspects, we conducted an extensive cytogenetic analysis in 20 species (Heniochus pleurotaenia and 19 Chaetodon spp.) from the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions, comparing the karyotype macrostructure and the arrangement of the 18S and 5S rDNA repetitive DNA classes in their chromosomes. The results demonstrate that butterflyfishes underwent a period of karyotypic stasis, as evidenced by their homoploid and structurally identical basal karyotype, which has 2n = 48 acrocentric chromosomes and is shared by 90% of species. Only C. trifascialis (2n = 48; FN = 50) and C. andamanensis (2n = 48; FN = 52) stood out because they both had karyotypes that diverged due to pericentric inversions. The microstructural arrays of 18S rDNA and 5S rDNA sequences were primarily comprised by single and independent loci on homologous chromosomes, indicating that there was little reshuffling among sets of orthologue chromosomes of species. Geographical comparisons revealed similar karyotypes between individuals of C. striatus from the Greater Caribbean and those of the coast of Brazil, corroborating previous data of gene flow through Amazon/Orinoco plume. The conservative chromosomal patterns in the butterflyfishes, likely overcome the limitations related to segregation and pairing of heterospecific complements and reinforce their contribution to the high degree of hybrid viability and introgression in Chaetodon species.

Modeled Flooding by Tsunamis and a Storm Versus Observed Extent of Coral Erratics on Anegada, British Virgin Islands—Further Evidence for a Great Caribbean Earthquake Six Centuries Ago

AbstractModels of near‐field tsunamis and an extreme hurricane provide further evidence for a great precolonial earthquake along the Puerto Rico Trench. The models are benchmarked to brain‐coral boulders and cobbles on Anegada, 125 km south of the trench. The models are screened by their success in flooding the mapped sites of these erratics, which were emplaced some six centuries ago. Among 25 tsunami scenarios, 19 have megathrust sources and the rest posit normal faulting on the outer rise. The modeled storm, the most extreme of 15 hurricanes of category 5, produces tsunami‐like bores from surf beat. In the tsunami scenarios, simulated flow depth is 1 m or more at all the clast sites, and 2 m or more at nearly all, given either a megathrust rupture 255 km long with 7.5 m of dip slip and M8.45, or an outer‐rise rupture 130 km long with 11.4 m of dip slip and M8.17. By contrast, many coral clasts lie beyond the reach of simulated flooding from the extreme hurricane. The tsunami screening may underestimate earthquake size by neglecting trees and shrubs that likely impeded both the simulated flows and the observed clasts; and it may overestimate earthquake size by leaving coastal sand barriers intact. The screening results broadly agree with those from previously published tsunami simulations. In either successful scenario, the average recurrence interval spans thousands of years, and flooding on the nearest Caribbean shores begins within a half‐hour.

Corso, esclavitud y resistencia: Afroespañoles del Gran Caribe en la Norteamérica colonial

Drawing on eighteenth-century newspaper records from New York, Boston and Philadelphia, in addition to archival sources from New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, this study interrelates Spanish and English privateering in the Greater Caribbean and along North America’s Atlantic Coast with the unfortunate phenomenon of the enslavement of African-descendant and Indigenous sailors from the Spanish territories in the British colonies. It focuses on group escape attempts as one strategy employed by Spanish-speaking enslaved people to achieve freedom.

Establishment genomics of the Indo-Pacific damselfish Neopomacentrus cyanomos, in the Greater Caribbean

Establishment genomics of the Indo-Pacific damselfish Neopomacentrus cyanomos, in the Greater Caribbean

Outplants of the Threatened Coral Acropora cervicornis Promote Coral Recruitment in a Shallow-Water Coral Reef, Culebra, Puerto Rico

The numerous socioeconomic and ecological challenges that coral reef degradation poses in the Greater Caribbean have led to a surge in restoration efforts. In this context, outplanting nursery-reared coral colonies has emerged as one of the most common strategies used to rejuvenate degraded reefs and reinstate critical ecosystem processes such as coral recruitment. However, the extent to which coral outplanting promotes the recruitment of coral species remains a subject of ongoing debate. This study tested the hypothesis that reintroducing the threatened coral Acropora cervicornis to a degraded coral reef promotes coral recruitment. To test our hypothesis, a series of recruitment quadrats were established in an area populated with A. cervicornis outplants and in a reference location devoid of the coral. To further investigate the relationship between A. cervicornis and coral recruitment, an experiment was implemented in which half of the quadrats in the restored area received a coral outplant, while the other half were left undisturbed. After one year, all coral recruits located within the quadrats were counted and identified. It was found that in the restored area the mean recruit density exceeded that of the reference location by a factor of 2.15. Results also unveiled a positive association between coral recruitment and the presence of A. cervicornis. Specifically, the mean recruit density in quadrats that received an A. cervicornis colony was 2.21 to 4.65-times higher than in the quadrats without coral outplants. This intriguing observation underscores the pivotal role of A. cervicornis in shaping the recruitment dynamics of corals within degraded reef areas, highlighting the potential of active coral outplanting to enhance the resilience of deteriorating coral reef ecosystems.

Loyalty, Subjecthood, and Violence: Veracruz’s Afro-descendants in the Early Mexican War of Independence, 1812–1813

Abstract: This article is centered around the experiences of Afro-descendant men in the 1812–1813 period of the Mexican War of Independence as it occurred in the port-city of Veracruz and it Sotavento (Leeward) hinterland. It argues that Black men had complex, active, and essential roles in providing the backbone of regional royalist and insurgent armies. It pieces together the fragmented military and political agency of Veracruz’s Afro-descendant men as reflected in published and unknown archival sources of the colonial and national archive, such as military reports and correspondence, constitutions, decrees, 19th Century published accounts, and a lengthy court case. This article sheds light on how Afro-descendant men were pushed to participate by their individual and collective needs, reacting to localized, and transatlantic, conditions that promised, or excluded them from, social, economic, and political advancement. By centering Veracruz’s Afro-descendant men as instrumental players of the war, even in leadership roles, this article seeks to problematize traditional narratives of the struggle that negate and erase Black History in the Mexican struggle for liberation. This article also places their experiences within the backdrops of Atlantic World politics during the Age of Revolutions. It examines the ways by which they reacted to limiting frameworks of citizenship influenced by localized, and transatlantic, Anti-Black stereotypes and fears, along with the adoption of the 1812 Cádiz Charter. This article argues that these men found themselves amidst the paradox of being militarily wanted but politically rejected by nineteenth century Spanish colonialism. This led Afro-descendant men to seek new opportunities of belonging and empowerment, joining the insurgency to improve their sociopolitical status. This article seeks to humanize voiceless Afro-descendant historical actors placing them as essential players of Veracruz’s, and the Greater Caribbean’s, early-nineteenth century regional dynamics.

Lobophora dispersa (Dictyotaceae: Phaeophyceae), a new record for the coast of Veracruz and insights into Lobophora genetic differentiation in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea

Species of Lobophora (Dictyotales) are distributed throughout the sub-tropical and tropical seas worldwide. Recent analyses have revealed high species diversity in regions previously presumed to host only a single species, such as the Bismarck Sea, Eastern Pacific, Western Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, and Greater Caribbean. Here, samples from Veracruz and Quintana Roo, Mexico, were collected, and 2 genetic markers (cox3 and psbA) were sequenced. The results confirmed the presence of L. dispersa and L. variegata. Lobophora dispersa is recorded for the first time on the Mexican coast. The distribution of its cox3 haplotypes shows genetic differentiation within the Greater Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, possibly indicating limited dispersal and isolation by distance. Lobophora variegata exhibits lower genetic variability compared to L. dispersa, but its haplotypes did not show any obvious pattern. Lobophora declerckii, previously reported in the “Anegada de Afuera” reef, Veracruz, was not found, possibly due to its affinity to subtidal depths. Morphologically, L. dispersa and L. variegata align with previous descriptions, although we observed more variation in thallus cell thickness in L. dispersa. However, relying solely on morphological characters is insufficient to confidently identify the species, necessitating further sampling to determine the species diversity in Mexico.

The effect of the egg-predator Carcinonemertes conanobrieni on the reproductive performance of the Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus

BackgroundThe Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus is heavily fished throughout its Greater Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico distribution, suggesting a heightened susceptibility to a fisheries collapse. In 2017, a nemertean worm, Carcinonemertes conanobrieni was described from ovigerous females of P. argus in Florida, USA. A year later, the presence of the same egg predator was recorded along the southern Caribbean coast (Colombia). The effect of this egg predator on the reproductive performance, including fecundity, embryo mortality, and reproductive output, of its host is unknown. This study tested whether C. conanobrieni affects embryo mortality, fecundity, and reproductive output in brooding females of P. argus.ResultsArtisan fishers caught 90 ovigerous lobsters near Pueblo Viejo, Magdalena, Colombia. Each ovigerous female was examined for the presence/absence of the egg predator. Lobster egg mortality (%), fecundity (nº eggs female−1), and reproductive output (%) were estimated. Prevalence of C. conanobrieni in the studied population was 87.78%. The mean intensity of C. conanobrieni (all life stages) in the population was 11.68 (± 1.98) egg predators per brood mass sample. Infected females brooding late-stage embryos exhibited lower fecundity, lower reproductive performance values, and higher embryo mortality compared to infected females brooding early-stage embryos. Embryo stage and worm infection level negatively impacted fecundity and reproductive output. Worm infection level and the number of adult nemertean worms also negatively affected embryo mortality.ConclusionsThese results demonstrate an adverse effect of C. conanobrieni on the reproductive performance of P. argus. The interactive impact of this egg predator, natural stressors, and anthropogenic stressors on individual P. argus reproductive performance could facilitate losses at large-scale fisheries levels.

“To Work Her Grounds”: Provision Grounds, Gardens, and Subsistence in Late-Slavery Trinidad, 1824–1833

As scholars have long shown, provision grounds and dooryard gardens were crucial to enslaved people’s survival and economic lives in many slave societies in the greater Caribbean. This article draws on both old and new evidence to explore the British colony of Trinidad’s late-slavery provision ground system from below. It analyses plantation records, the Port of Spain Gazette, government slave punishment returns, planter and imperial correspondence, slave codes, and enslaved people’s legal complaints from the nineteenth century to provide a more detailed portrait of the challenges of food cultivation under slavery in the years leading to abolition. Foregrounding scarcity as the common experience in the island’s provision ground system, it argues that enslaved labourers risked punishment to deploy a range of adaptive and sometimes illicit labour and land management strategies to properly cultivate their grounds under the constraints imposed upon them by plantation authorities. Furthermore, it shows how in the amelioration era, despite the odds being stacked against them, enslaved people found ways to strategically negotiate the office of The Protector of Slaves to retain rightful access to productive land and to protect their cultivation time and produce.

Monitoring holopelagic Sargassum spp. along the Mexican Caribbean coast: understanding and addressing user requirements for satellite remote sensing

Massive influxes of holopelagic Sargassum spp. (Sargassum natans and S. fluitans) have been causing major economic, environmental and ecological problems along the Caribbean coast of Mexico. Predicting the arrival of the sargassum as an aid to addressing these problems is a priority for the government, coastal communities and the society; both mitigating the impacts and providing opportunities for its use. Lack of data concerning precise locations and times of sargassum beachings means that public and private funds are being spent inefficiently and most actions are reactive. The dynamic nature of sargassum beachings/influxes render conventional ground-based monitoring insufficient. Earth observation and cloud-based processing services offer tools to track, quantify and understand sargassum beaching remotely in a frequent, systematic and reliable manner with the temporal and spatial resolutions required for its management. In order to find the right solutions to address this problem, in this paper the needs and requirements of stakeholders are taken into consideration for the development of an Earth observation-based service to monitor sargassum along the Mexican Caribbean coast. Routine monitoring of sargassum over a large area will be cost effective and help mitigate the negative effects of sargassum influxes. The combination of imagery from Planet, specifically their SuperDove systems that provide daily data at 3 m spatial resolutions, with the freely available EU Copernicus data would be useful for many different stakeholders and potential users. A prototype of the service is presented, based on the main user requirements. The system would enable public and private organizations to allocate resources appropriately in affected areas quickly and efficiently, thereby minimizing economic, social and environmental impacts and enhancing the resilience of local communities. It would also assist the sargassum industry in the collection of fresh algae for onward processing. The system could easily be implemented for similar types of environmental monitoring in the Greater Caribbean and beyond.

Chemical and genomic characterization of a potential probiotic treatment for stony coral tissue loss disease

Considered one of the most devastating coral disease outbreaks in history, stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is currently spreading throughout Florida’s coral reefs and the greater Caribbean. SCTLD affects at least two dozen different coral species and has been implicated in extensive losses of coral cover. Here we show Pseudoalteromonas sp. strain McH1-7 has broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against SCTLD-associated bacterial isolates. Chemical analyses indicated McH1-7 produces at least two potential antibacterials, korormicin and tetrabromopyrrole, while genomic analysis identified the genes potentially encoding an L-amino acid oxidase and multiple antibacterial metalloproteases (pseudoalterins). During laboratory trials, McH1-7 arrested or slowed disease progression on 68.2% of diseased Montastraea cavernosa fragments treated (n = 22), and it prevented disease transmission by 100% (n = 12). McH1-7 is the most chemically characterized coral probiotic that is an effective prophylactic and direct treatment for the destructive SCTLD as well as a potential alternative to antibiotic use.

Rogue Revolutionaries: The Fight for Legitimacy in the Greater Caribbean

Centering her account on a failed 1822 voyage from Philadelphia to Puerto Rico by cosmopolitan revolutionaries hoping to liberate the colony from Spain and create a Republic of Boricua as Latin American revolts convulsed the Spanish and Portuguese Empires, Vanessa Mongey grapples with the “cosmopolitan patriotism” so central to understanding the age of Atlantic revolutions. In the best traditions of radical scholars such as E. P. Thompson and Marcus Rediker, Mongey beautifully reclaims the importance of failed movements and how ships could carry a “floating dream” over great distances to disparate places (p. 2). During an era of universalist ambitions, radicals crafted a common culture that made cultural differences seem surmountable. Rescuing the Republic of Boricua from extreme obscurity, Mongey highlights the subversive power and reach of even ephemeral movements, during a period when even many of the most famous revolutions did not lead to stable or enduring governments. Mongey's work provides an excellent example of how to “place the margins at the center” and see them as key sites for innovation and experimentation (p. 7). Paying close attention to failed experiments—especially numerous across the Caribbean and Latin America in the early nineteenth century—helps us better understand the creativity of the revolutionary era and possibilities of a time when modern national divisions had not yet been determined. Only occasional references are made to grand thinkers, orators, and statesmen in faraway revolutionary capitals. Mongey's focus is instead on almost-unknown rebels in obscure corners of empire. Moreover, she ably argues for the need to restore foreign cosmopolitans and racial minorities to their important places in the era's revolutionary history from the quasi-oblivion to which subsequent nationalist tellings have often consigned them.

Geo‐ecological functions provided by coral reef fishes vary among regions and impact reef carbonate cycling regimes

AbstractCoral reef fishes perform essential and well‐documented ecological functions on reefs, but also contribute important geo‐ecological functions, which influence reef carbonate cycling regimes. These functions include reef framework modification (through bioerosion and breakage), and the production, reworking, and transport of reefal sediments. To explore how these functions vary across reefs and regions, we compiled a dataset of available taxa‐specific function rates and applied these to fish census data from sites in the Pacific Ocean (PO), Indian Ocean (IO), and Greater Caribbean (GC), each region displaying a gradient in fish biomass. The highest overall function rates occur at the highest fish biomass sites in the PO (Kingman Reef) and IO (Chagos Archipelago), where bioerosion dominates framework modification and sediment generation (up to 7 kg m−2 year−1). At the lowest biomass PO and IO sites, framework modification and sediment generation are driven mainly by breakage and occur at lower rates (~2 kg m−2 year−1). Sediment reworking rates are high across all PO and IO sites (~1–5 kg m−2 year−1) and higher than other function rates at low biomass sites. Geo‐ecological function rates are generally low across the GC sites, despite total fish biomass being comparable to, or even exceeding, some PO and IO sites, with sediment reworking (up to ~1 kg m−2 year−1) being the dominant function. These site‐level differences partly reflect total fish biomass, but fish assemblage size structure and species identity are critical, with a few fish families (and species) underpinning the highest function rates and regulating the “health” of the fish‐driven carbonate cycling regime. Reefs with high fish‐driven framework modification, sediment production and reworking rates define one end of this spectrum, while at lower biomass sites little new sediment is produced and sediment reworking dominates. While additional species‐level rate data are urgently needed to better constrain function rates, these transitions align with ideas about the progressive shutdown of carbonate production regimes on ecologically perturbed reefs, with important implications for reef‐building, shoreline sediment supply, and sediment carbon and nutrient cycling.

Biophysical larval dispersal models of observed bonefish (Albula vulpes) spawning events in Abaco, The Bahamas: An assessment of population connectivity and ocean dynamics

Biophysical models are a powerful tool for assessing population connectivity of marine organisms that broadcast spawn. Albula vulpes is a species of bonefish that is an economically and culturally important sportfish found throughout the Caribbean and that exhibits genetic connectivity among geographically distant populations. We created ontogenetically relevant biophysical models for bonefish larval dispersal based upon multiple observed spawning events in Abaco, The Bahamas in 2013, 2018, and 2019. Biological parameterizations were informed through active acoustic telemetry, CTD casts, captive larval rearing, and field collections of related albulids and anguillids. Ocean conditions were derived from the Regional Navy Coastal Ocean Model American Seas dataset. Each spawning event was simulated 100 times using the program Ichthyop. Ten-thousand particles were released at observed and putative spawning locations and were allowed to disperse for the full 71-day pelagic larval duration for A. vulpes. Settlement densities in defined settlement zones were assessed along with interactions with oceanographic features. The prevailing Northern dispersal paradigm exhibited strong connectivity with Grand Bahama, the Berry Islands, Andros, and self-recruitment to lower and upper Abaco. Ephemeral gyres and flow direction within Northwest and Northeast Providence Channels were shown to have important roles in larval retention to the Bahamian Archipelago. Larval development environments for larvae settling upon different islands showed few differences and dispersal was closely associated with the thermocline. Settlement patterns informed the suggestion for expansion of conservation parks in Grand Bahama, Abaco, and Andros, and the creation of a parks in Eleuthera and the Berry Islands to protect fisheries. Further observation of spawning events and the creation of biophysical models will help to maximize protection for bonefish spawning locations and nursery habitat, and may help to predict year-class strength for bonefish stocks throughout the Greater Caribbean.

Of Rags and Riches in the Caribbean: Creolizing Migration Studies

In this article, we re-connect highly unequal mobilities in the Caribbean that have so far escaped the purview of migration research and challenge dominant understandings of migrant integration: By replacing the methodological Occidentalism shaping the field through a creolized decolonial lens, we show how the precarious position of Haitians in the Greater Caribbean and particularly in French Guiana testifies to how colonial histories shape unequal mobilities until the present. We juxtapose these patterns between the first independent Black Republic and territories still under colonial occupation with short-cuts to global mobility available to investors in commodified citizenships in the Caribbean.

Water Graves: The Art of the Unritual in the Greater Caribbean , by Valérie Loichot

Water Graves: The Art of the Unritual in the Greater Caribbean , by Valérie Loichot

Investigating NUCAPS Skill in Profiling Saharan Dust for Near-Real-Time Forecasting

Dust outflows off Northwest Africa often propagate westward across the North Tropical Atlantic Basin (NTAB) into the greater Caribbean and US. From a health perspective, weather forecasters in these regions often monitor hazardous air quality associated with this dust. However, forecasters can be constrained by sparse data observations upwind over the Atlantic of the impacted populated areas. Global satellite sounding retrievals can potentially augment and enhance the operational forecasting toolkit for monitoring Saharan dust episodes. The focus of this paper was to examine the skill of the NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) temperature and water vapor profiles within the dust and non-dust conditions during the March 2019 NOAA Aerosols and Ocean Science Expedition (AEROSE). During this time, the NOAA Ron Brown research ship launched radiosondes to coincide with satellite overpasses that served as independent ground truth data for evaluating NUCAPS. Compared to RAOBs from the Ron Brown, the SNPP and NOAA-20 NUCAPS-derived soundings showed skill in profiling atmospheric conditions supporting Saharan dust monitoring. Outside of dust regions, the NOAA-20 NUCAPS surface temperature bias peaks at 2.0 K; the surface water vapor bias is minimal (~1000 hPa), with a small cold bias that peaks at −50% between 742 and 790 hPa. Corresponding temperature RMS values are less than 2.0 K; water vapor RMS values are generally below 70%. Within the dust regions, NOAA-20 NUCAPS temperature soundings show a cold bias peak of 2.6 K at 918 hPa and 113% of a moist bias peak at the same level. Corresponding temperature RMS values maximize at 3.5 K at 945 hPa; the water vapor RMS shows a peak value of 106% at the same level. Weather forecasters can apply NUCAPS across the NTAB in issuing timely and accurate hazardous air quality warnings and visibility alerts to health officials and the general public.

Rogue Revolutionaries: The Fight for Legitimacy in the Greater Caribbean

Rogue Revolutionaries: The Fight for Legitimacy in the Greater Caribbean