[Coral-List] 20 newly listed coral species

Alevizon, William Stephen alevizonws at cofc.edu
Wed Sep 24 17:02:21 EDT 2014


Re: Gene Shinn's Comment, "the thrust of the (Jeremy Jackson NYT) op-ed clearly does not apply in the Florida Keys"

Our data (unpublished) from Cay Sal Bank  (Bahamas) indicates that the "thrust" of Jeremy's op-ed does not seem to apply there either.

Jeremy explains the Florida Keys reef declines (despite the peristence of sizeable parrotfish populations) as a Caribbean anomaly, explained by the offsetting factor of "millions of residents and tourists and insufficient controls on development".

Yet our data from a reef complex in the Cay Sal Bank - where there are no (human) residents or development (yet!) - also indicate a very large decline in live coral cover (including the near total loss of A. cervicornis), along with no reduction in the numbers of large parrotfishes between 1974 and 2000.  The Cay Sal reef area we surveyed is over 70 miles distant from the Florida reef tract and separated from it by the strong current running through the Florida Straits – it seems unlikely that the waters flowing over the Cay Sal Bank are much affected by what happens in the Florida Keys.



regards

Bill



William Alevizon
Research Associate
Biology Dept.
College of Charleston
Charleston, S.C. USA



William S. Alevizon

Research Associate

Dept. of Biology

College of Charleston

58 Coming St.

Charleston,  S.C. 29424

USA


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