Biology Commons^™

Bahamian Reef Communities: Composition, Recruitment And Change (10 Meters To 250 Meters), William E. Avery

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The composition, recruitment rates and fine-scale spatial dynamics of the sessile benthic community occupying hard substrata off Lee Stocking Island, The Bahamas, was determined through photography and the deployment of artificial substrata from September 1993 to September 1996. The study spanned 10 to 250 meters in depth. The benthic community exhibited a pronounced bathymetric zonation. Filamentous and macroalgae dominated the shallow communities, but were replaced by corals, sponges and endolithic algae with increasing depth. Living cover was high above 100 m, but declined significantly below this depth, being replaced by increasing amounts of bare and sediment-covered rock surfaces. Benthic zonation …