[Coral-List] Coral species list for Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System
Szmant, Alina
szmanta at uncw.edu
Sun Apr 24 23:20:18 EDT 2011
Hi Doug:
I agree with your classification of the MBRS as a MARS and the Belize portion as a barrier reef (as well as the point that fringing reefs can be amazing, such as in Bonaire and Curacao).
With regard to Millepora squarosa, I have collected it from La Parguera PR and also seen it in Florida Keys and Bahamas, so it is definitely not limited to just southern Caribbean (and I know how to tell it apart from M. companata and M. alcicornis which are totally different).
Best,
Alina
*************************************************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Professor of Marine Biology
Center for Marine Science and Dept of Biology and Marine Biology
University of North Carolina Wilmington
5600 Marvin Moss Ln
Wilmington NC 28409 USA
tel: 910-962-2362 fax: 910-962-2410 cell: 910-200-3913
http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
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-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Douglas Fenner
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 4:41 PM
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Coral species list for Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System
Almost all reef-building coral species in the Caribbean have ranges
throughout the Caribbean, since the Caribbean is a relatively small body of
water (compared to the Indo-Pacific, for instance). Most all of the species
have already been found in places like Belize, Cozumel, Akumal, Cancun area,
and so on, and some of the others may be there but just haven't been found
there yet. There are a very few which have not been found in the NW or W
Caribbean at all, and might (might) not be there (to prove they are not there
is like trying to prove the null hypothesis). One that is pretty sure not to
be there is Millepora squarrosa. It is only known from the southeast
Caribbean, and reports elsewhere are likely all errors. Millepora complanata
can look a bit like it, but if you look in the Humann book you'll see M.
squarrosa is actually quite distinctive and easy to recognize. A second
species is Leptoseris cailleti, a small deep-water species that is rarely
reported anywhere. Millepora striata is rarely reported, but I reported it
from Belize, so it is in the MesoAmerican reef system. There are a few other
rarely reported or less well known species that may or may not be there, such
as Madracis senaria, Madracis asperula, Madracis carambi and Porites branneri.
The situation is quite different with the azooxanthellate corals. How many are
present in an area is poorly known, probably because they are small and
cryptic, but they may be patchy as well, since they typically live in very
specific habitats like cavern roofs that are searched less often and less
completely than open habitats. Also, their identification is not a trivial
matter for most of us reef biologists, most require sending a sample to the one
or two people in the whole world who are experts on their taxonomy (I'm not one
of them, Dr. Stephen Cairns at the Smithsonian is one, and can put you in touch
with the others).
For the zooxanthellate species, you can find range maps in Veron (2000),
but it appears he fills in all the Caribbean for any species found somewhere in
the Caribbean. He's working on a much more detailed database called "Coral
Geographic."
To my way of thinking Belize has a true barrier reef, but the rest of the
MesoAmerican reef system is not a barrier reef as far as I know, but I'm no
expert on it. A barrier reef has to have a significant lagoon between it and
land, and my impression is outside Belize, reefs are pretty much fringing. I've
also heard of the Florida Keys reefs referred to as a barrier reef. I prefer
the older name, "Florida Reef Tract" since as far as I know it consists of a
series of relatively small reefs with wide gaps between them, and more
continuous ridges of hard grounds that are not currently living coral reefs and
don't get close to the surface. Gene Shinn also tells me that the Florida Keys
reefs have been called bank reefs. That said, most reefs are not just coral
reefs, they are coralgal reefs or even algal coral reefs, with coralline algae
and other calcareous algae contributing as much or more calcium buildup than the
corals. Also, the Great Barrier Reef is not a single reef but a whole series of
about two thousand reefs, with gaps of various sizes (a maze that in effect is
a barrier to navigation unless you have GPS and a very good map system and are
a good navigator). There is one section that is a nearly continuous barrier,
the section called the "Ribbon Reefs." I'd also remind people of the barrier
reef in New Caledonia, which is like Belize and the Ribbon Reefs in the GBR, a
nearly continuous barrier with some small gaps. New Caledonia is said to have
the longest continuous barrier reef in the world, and likely that is not widely
known. Anyhow, "MesoAmerican reef system" sounds fine with me, as does Belize
Barrier Reef, but adding barrier to MesoAmerican does not, nor does it for
Florida. It seems like today people think the word "barrier" adds charisma, so
they want to call their reef a barrier reef. Fringing reef ought to also have
some charisma, think of the Ningaloo fringing reef in western Australia,
longest fringing reef in the world. Not nearly as well known as the GBR, but a
huge and amazing reef. Think of Indonesia, which has more coral reefs than any
other country in the world (slightly more than Australia), I bet most of their
reefs are fringing. Also among the most diverse in the world, a true world
treasure. Fringing is good. Doug
Cheers, Doug
Fenner, D. 2001. Biogeography of three Caribbeancorals (Scleractinia);
Tubastraea
coccineainvades the Gulf of Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science 69:
1175-1189.
Fenner, D. 1999. New Observations on the Stony Coral Species (Scleractinia,
Milliporidae, Stylaseridae) of Belize(Central America) and Cozumel(Mexico).
Bulletin of Marine Science 64: 143-154.
Fenner, D. P. 1993. Some reefs and corals of Roatan (Honduras), Cayman Brac, and
Little Cayman. Atoll Research Bulletin 388: 1-30.
Weerdt, W. H. de. 1990. Discontinuous distribution of the tropical west
Atlantic hydrocoral Millepora squarrosa. Beaufort. 41: 195-203.
Douglas Fenner
Coral Reef Monitoring Ecologist
Dept Marine & Wildlife Resources
American Samoa
Mailing address:
PO Box 3730
Pago Pago, AS 96799
USA
work phone 684 633 4456
Sharply increased mass loss from glaciers and ice caps in the Canadian Arctic
Archipelago
Between the periods 2004–2006 and 2007–2009, the rate of mass loss sharply
increased from 31 ± 8 Gt yr 1 to 92 ± 12 Gt yr 1 in direct response to warmer
summer temperatures, to which rates of ice loss are highly sensitive (64 ± 14
Gt yr 1 per 1 K increase).
Gardner et al Nature
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature10089.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20110421
________________________________
From: Brittany Huntington <brittanyhuntington at gmail.com>
To: coral-list at coral.aoml..noaa.gov
Sent: Thu, April 21, 2011 4:13:17 AM
Subject: [Coral-List] Coral species list for Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System
I am interested in determining the regional species pool for scleractinian
corals within the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. Published reports weigh
in around 60 species from what I have found but would appreciate any leads
to a taxonomic list of coral species observed in the region.
Thanks in advance,
Brittany Huntington
Brittany Huntington
Doctoral Candidate
Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
University of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149
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