Life Sciences Commons^™

Mapping Coral Reef Habitats In Southeast Florida Using A Combined Technique Approach, Brian K. Walker, Bernhard Riegl, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

To create maps of nearshore benthic habitats of Broward County, Florida, from 0 to 35 m depth, we combined laser bathymetry, acoustic ground discrimination, subbottom profiling, and aerial photography data in a geographic information system (GIS). A mosaic of interpolated, sun-shaded, laser bathymetry data served as the foundation upon which acoustic ground discrimination, limited subbottom profiling and aerial photography, and groundtruthing data aided in interpretation of habitats. Mapping criteria similar to NOAA biogeographic Caribbean mapping were used to allow for a comparable output. Expert-driven visual interpretation outlined geomorphological features at a scale of 1 : 6000 with a minimum mapping …

A Tale Of Germs, Storms, And Bombs: Geomorphology And Coral Assemblage Structure At Vieques (Puerto Rico) Compared To St. Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands), Bernhard Riegl, Ryan P. Moyer, Brian K. Walker, Kevin E. Kohler, David S. Gilliam, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The former U.S. Navy range at Vieques Island (Puerto Rico, United States) is now the largest national wildlife refuge in the Caribbean. We investigated the geomorphology and benthic assemblage structure to understand the status of the coral reefs. Coral assemblages were quantified at 24 sites at Vieques and at 6 sites at St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. These sites were chosen to represent the major zones of reef geomorphology. Sites consisted of two or three 21-m-long photo-quadrate belt transects. The results revealed surprisingly little differentiation in the coral assemblages within and between reefs of comparable geomorphological and oceanographic setting at …

New Species And Host Associations Of Commensal Leucothoid Amphipods From Coral Reefs In Florida And Belize (Crustacea:Amphipoda), James Darwin Thomas, Kristine N. Klebba

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Six new amphipod species in the genus Leucothoe from the tropical western Atlantic Ocean are described and illustrated. Extensive field collecting and specialized underwater collecting techniques have documented 43 new invertebrate host records for these new taxa. Four of these new species inhabit interior canals of sponges; Leucothoe barana n.sp., Leucothoe garifunae n.sp., Leucothoe saron n.sp., and Leucothoe ubouhu n.sp. A remarkable new species, Leucothoe flammosa n.sp., nestles in the gills of seven species of bivalve mollusks. A single species, Leucothoe wuriti n.sp., appears restricted to the branchial chamber of two species of solitary ascidians. Detailed illustrations and scanning electron …

A Comparison Of Diets And Water Agitation Methods For Larval Culture Of The Edible Sea Urchin, Tripneustes Ventricosus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea), Ray Wolcott, Charles G. Messing

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Tripneustes ventricosus (Lamarck, 1816) has been harvested for human consumption in the Caribbean for centuries, where harvest rates occasionally exceed sustainability. Historically a backreef and grass-bed urchin, the species has recently been observed on the forereef where it appears to control macroalgal growth in the absence of Diadema antillarum (Philippi, 1845) (Woodley and Gayle, 1999). Large-scale culturing has the potential to produce T. ventricosus in sufficient numbers for remediation of degraded coral reefs, restocking of nearshore habitats, and development of an aquaculture industry for one or more Caribbean islands. We report the first successful culturing of T. ventricosus from fertilization …

Applying Habitat Equivalency Analysis For Coral Reef Damage Assessment And Restoration, J. Walter Milon, Richard E. Dodge (Editor)

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Quantifying economic damages and restoration measures for injuries to coral reefs has been a difficult task. In the U.S., habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) has emerged as a novel tool that combines biological and economic information to identify replacement habitats of an appropriate scale to substitute for the interim losses resulting from coral reef injuries. This article provides a review of the basic principles underlying HEA and a discussion of important considerations in applying HEA. These considerations include: how to describe coral reef functions and related human uses, recovery rates of coral reef organisms at injured sites with natural and active …

Florida Coral Reef Damage From Nuclear Submarine Grounding And Proposed Restoration, Kenneth Banks, Richard E. Dodge (Editor), Lou Fisher, David K. Stout, Walter Jaap

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The United States submarine Memphis grounded in approximately 10 m water depth on a tropical coral reef ofT southeast Florida in February, 1993. The grounding caused extensive physical and biological damage to the reef substrate and to the coral community. As part of a claim by the State of Florida against the United States, the impact of the grounding was assessed, and the area of damage was determined through field and photographic studies. A recovery rate for the reef was assigned from literature estimates. The NOAA Habitat Equivalency Model (HEM) was used to calculate the reef area needed to be …

A 240-Year Stable Oxygen And Carbon Isotopic Record In A Coral From South Florida: Implications For The Prediction Of Precipitation In Southern Florida, Peter Koenraad Swart, Richard E. Dodge, Harold J. Hudson

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

This study reports on the δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C composition of the skeleton from a 240-year-old specimen of Montastraea faveolata growing in Biscayne National Park, South Florida. Annual variations in the δ¹⁸O of the skeleton deposited during the summer months show a bimodal correlation with summer rainfall. During wetter years, the δ¹⁸O of the coral skeleton and the amount of precipitation during the summer months are inversely correlated (r = -0. 7) reflecting dilution of the seawater by meteoric water lower in δ¹⁸O. During years in which summer rainfall is less …

Skeletal Extension, Density And Calcification Of The Reef Coral, Montastrea Annularis: St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Richard E. Dodge, Garrett W. Brass

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Parameters of the annual and subannual skeletal growth of 61 Montastrea annularis corals, collected at a variety of shallow depth sites on reefs of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, are determined by X-radiography and scanning densitometry for each year in the 10-year period, 1970–1979. Extension (linear growth) of the coral skeleton is correlated negatively with bulk density (mass per unit volume) and positively with calcification (mass addition). Density and mass are slightly positively correlated. No one parameter, however, is a perfect predictor of another. At least two parameters, from which the third can be calculated, are required for complete description …

Environmental Correlates Of Hermatypic Coral (Montastrea Annularis) Growth On The East Flower Gardens Bank, Northwest Gulf Of Mexico, Richard E. Dodge, Judith C. Lang

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Time series of annual linear growth increments from 12 Montastrea annularis (E. and S.) collected at the East Flower Gardens Bank reef in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico have a common pattern. This is best expressed in an index master chronology (average by year of the annual percentage deviations from the mean of each coral.)

Comparisons with time series of environmental data indicate that coral extension rates vary positively with seasonal (February through May - 4 months) surface water temperature and negatively with annual discharge of the Atchafalaya River. We propose that secular variations of water temperature and other parameters …

Quantitative Reef Assessment Studies In Bermuda: A Comparison Of Methods And Preliminary Results, Richard E. Dodge, Alan Logan, Arnfried Antonius

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

To compare in quantitative terms both ecological characteristics of the stony coral fauna at various reef sites in Bermuda and available assessment methodologies, we present a study of four separate methods at each of three reef sites. Three plotless (Intersected-length, Quarter point, Point) and one quadrat (Belt-quadrat) methods were employed. Each technique gave similar results but had inherent advantages and disadvantages which involve trade-offs in quantity and type of information generated and time required for use.

Pooling of method results revealed that total coral coverage was highest at North Rock (26%), intermediate at Three Hill Shoals (17%), and lowest at …

Coral Populations And Growth Patterns: Responses To Sedimentation And Turbidity Associated With Dredging, Richard E. Dodge, J. Rimas Vaisnys

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Analysis of coral growth patterns and populations in Bermuda reveals that living coral abundance on the reefs of Castle Harbor, a location where extensive dredging occurred during 1941- 1943, is much reduced in comparison to external North-South reefs. Dead corals, sampled in the harbor, have skeletal patterns of growth which are similar and which show a marked decline in growth for several years prior to death. For the brain coral genus Diploria, both D. strigosa and D. labyrinthiformis are fairly evenly represented on contemporary North-South reefs and in the assemblages of dead corals from Castle Harbor, while D. labyrinthiformis, …