Marine Biology Commons^™

Preservation Of Community Structure In Death Assemblages Of Deep‐Water Caribbean Reef Corals, John M. Pandolfi, Benjamin J. Greenstein

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

An in situ survey of deep reef environments (20 and 30 m) was conducted to determine the degree to which the community structure of live reef coral assemblages was faithfully represented in the adjacent death assemblages accumulating on the sea floor. Relative abundance of species was significantly different between life and death assemblages, and zonation patterns (in species relative abundance, coral growth form, and diversity) present in the life assemblages showed both similarities and differences to those found in the death assemblages. The difference in species distribution patterns between life and death assemblages is shown by a striking growth form …