Abstract
Compared to catastrophic impacts from storms, disease epidemics and bleaching events, little is known about the effects of more routine chronic mortality in reef corals. To monitor this ongoing mortality, monthly visual assessments of the cause of tissue damage were related to mortality rates (changes in planar surface area) of tagged colonies of three common reef corals: Montastrea annularis, Porites astreoides and Diploria strigosa at Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. During the study Hurricane Hugo, the most powerful cyclone to affect the area in at least 60 y, made a direct impact on the site. Effects of the hurricane were extremely localized, with certain exposed sites being almost completely razed while others showed no detectable changes in community structure. Mortality caused both by the hurricane and by other factors during the 26 month study varied between species and also between site locations around the island. Differences in susceptibility were not dependent solely on gross morphology, because two robust, massive species showed opposite responses to hurricane damage and chronic mortality. Diploria strigosa was virtually unaffected by chronic factors, but was heavily damaged at exposed sites during the hurricane. In contrast, mortality from predation and tissue necrosis was high in Montastrea annularis, but it largely escaped damage from the hurricane because it was absent from the most severely scoured locations. Porites astreoides, with populations dominated by much smaller colonies, was affected by both chronic and hurricanerelated mortality. Differences in susceptibility to the various types of natural disturbance among species, coupled with high spatial and temporal variability in the effects of such disturbances, may be critical to the maintenance of species diversity on the reef.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Antonius A (1981a) The “band” diseases in coral reefs. Proc 4th Int Coral Reef Symp 2:6–14
Antonius A (1981b) Coral reef pathology: a review. Proc 4th Int Coral Reef Symp 2:3–6
Bak RPM, Steward-van Es Y (1980) Regeneration of superficial damage in the scleractinian corals Agaricia agaricites and Porites astreoides. Bull Mar Sci 30:883–887
Bak RPM, Luckhurst BE (1980) Constancy and change in coral reef habitats along depth gradients at Curaçao. Oecologia 47:145–155
Brown BE (1988) Assessing environmental impacts on coral reefs. Proc 6th Int Coral Reef Symp 1:71–80
Brown BE, Howard LS (1985) Assessing the effects of “stress” on reef corals. Adv Mar Biol 22:1–63
Brown BE, Suharsono (1990) Damage and recovery of coral reefs affected by El Niño related seawater warming in the Thousand Islands, Indonesia. Coral Reefs 8:163–170
Bythell JC, Gladfelter EH, Gladfelter WB, French KE, Hills Z (1989) Buck Island Reef National Monument — changes in modern reefcommunity structure since 1976. In: Hubbard DK (ed) Terrestrial and marine geology of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. 12th Carribbean Geological Conference, West Indies Laboratory Spec Pub 8, pp 145–154
Case RA, Mayfield M (1990) Annual summaries: Atlantic hurricane season of 1989. Mon Weather Rev 118:1165–1177
Chornesky EA, Peters EC (1987) Sexual reproduction and colony growth in the scleractinian coral Porites astreoides. Biol Bull 172:161–177
Connell JH (1978) Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199:1302–1310
Connell JH, Slatyer RO (1970) Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. Am Nat 111:1119–1144
Edmunds PJ, Witman JD (1991) Effect of Hurricane Hugo on the primary framework of a reef along the south shore of St. John, US Virgin Island. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 78:201–204
Gates RD (1990) Seawater temperature and sublethal coral bleaching in Jamaica. Coral Reefs 8:193–197
Gladfelter EH, Bythell JC, Gladfelter WB, Lewis SK, Woodbury M (1991) Ecological studies of Buck Island Reef National Monument St. Croix, US Virgin Islands: a quantitative assessment of selected components of the coral reef ecosystems and establishment of long-term monitoring sites. Part 1. US Dept. Interior, National Park Service, Spec Rep 177 pp
Gladfelter WB (1982) White band disease in Acropora palmata: implications for the structure and growth of shallow reefs. Bull Mar Sci 32:639–643
Gleason MG (1993) Effects of disturbance on coral communities: bleaching in Moorea, French Polynesia. Coral Reefs 12:193–201
Highsmith RC (1982) Reproduction by fragmentation in corals. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 7:207–226
Highsmith RC, Riggs AC, D'Antonio CM (1980) Survival of hurricane-generated coral fragments and a disturbance model of reef calcification/growth rates. Oecologia 46:322–329
Hubbard DK, Parsons KM, Bythell JC, Walker ND (1991) The effects of Hurricane Hugo on the reefs and associated environments of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands — a preliminary assessment. J Coastal Res Spec Iss 8:33–48
Hughes TP (1989) Community structure and diversity of coral reefs: the role of history. Ecology 70:275–279
Hughes TP, Jackson JBC (1985) Population dynamics and life histories of foliaceous corals. Ecol Monogr 55:141–166
Karlson R, Hurd L (1993) Disturbance, coral reef communities, and changing ecological paradigms. Coral Reefs 12:117–125
Knowlton N, Lang JC, Keller BD (1990) Case study of natural population collapse: post-hurricane predation on Jamaican staghorn corals. Smithsonian Contrib Mar Sci 31:25
Knowlton N, Weil E, Weight LA, Guzman HM (1992) Sibling species in Montastrea annularis, coral bleaching, and the coral climate record. Science 255:330–333
Lang JC, Chornesky EA (1990) Competition between scleractinian reef corals — a review of mechanisms and effects. In: Dubinsky Z (ed) Coral reefs. Elsevier, Amsterdam (Ecosystems of the World, vol 25, pp 209–252)
Loya Y (1976) The Red Sea coral Stylophora pistillata is an r strategist. Nature 259:478–480
Porter JW, Battey JF, Smith GJ (1982) Perturbation and change in coral reef communities. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 79:1678–1681
Porter JW, Woodley JD, Smith GJ, Neigel JE, Battey JF, Dallmeyer DG (1981) Population trends among Jamaican reef corals. Nature (Lond) 294:249–250
Rogers CS (1988) Recommendations for long-term assessment of coral reefs: US National Park Service initiates regional program. Proc 6th Int Coral Reef Symp
Rogers CS, Fitz III HC, Gilnack M, Beets J, Hardin J (1984) Seleractinian coral recruitment patterns at Salt River submarine canyon, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Coral Reefs 3:69–76
Rogers CS, McClain LN, Tobias CR (1991) Effects of Hurricane Hugo (1989) on a coral reef in St. John, USVI. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 78:189–199
Rogers CS, Suchanek TH, Pecora FA (1982) Effects of hurricanes David and Frederick (1979) on shallow Acropora palmata reef communities: St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Bull Mar Sci 32:532–548
Rylaarsdam KW (1983) Life histories and abundance patterns of colonial corals on Jamaican reefs. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 13:249–260
Sammarco PW (1982) Echinoid grazing as a structuring force in coral communities: whole reef manipulations. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 61:31–55
Simpson G (1979) Predation on live coral by the parrotfishes Scarus vetula and Sparisoma viride. In: Ecological studies of Buck Island Reef National Monument, US National Park Service, Spec Rep., pp 7.1–7.11
Slobodkin LB, Sanders HL (1969) On the contribution of environmental predictability to species diversity. Brookhaven Symposia in Biology 22:82–93
Woodley JD, Chornesky EA, Clifford PA, Jackson JBC, Kaufman LS, Knowlton N, Lang JC, Pearson MP, Porter JW, Rooney MC, Rylaarsdam KW, Tunnicliffe VJ, Wahle CM, Wulff JL, Curtis ASG, Dallmeyer MD, Jupp BP, Koehl MAR, Neigel J, Sides EM (1981) Hurricane Allen's impact on Jamaican coral reefs. Science 214:749–755
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bythell, J.C., Gladfelter, E.H. & Bythell, M. Chronic and catastrophic natural mortality of three common Caribbean reef corals. Coral Reefs 12, 143–152 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334474
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334474