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Health status evaluation of shallow coral reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Costa Rica

Sedimentation, increased tourism, coral diseases and high ocean temperatures have become a permanent threat to reef areas worldwide. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the health status of the shallow reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Limon, Costa Rica. A database, including species of all...

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Autores Principales: Araya-Vargas, Alexander, Nova-Bustos, Nidya
Formato: Artículo
Idioma: Inglés
Publicado: Centro de Estudios en Biodiversidad (Chile) 2024
Materias:
AGRRA
CORAL REEF
ESTADO DE SALUD
CARIBE
COSTA RICA
Acceso en línea: http://hdl.handle.net/11056/27689
id RepoUNACR27689
recordtype dspace
spelling RepoUNACR276892024-04-17T22:36:23Z Health status evaluation of shallow coral reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Costa Rica Evaluación del estado de salud de los parches arrecifales someros en Cahuita y Manzanillo, Costa Rica Araya-Vargas, Alexander Nova-Bustos, Nidya AGRRA CORAL REEF ESTADO DE SALUD CARIBE COSTA RICA Sedimentation, increased tourism, coral diseases and high ocean temperatures have become a permanent threat to reef areas worldwide. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the health status of the shallow reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Limon, Costa Rica. A database, including species of all colonial sessile cnidarians and their known diseases, was created for the studied area. Subsequently, 15 transects were surveyed along the coast in 1-3 m deep bands of 10 x 1 m following the AGRRA V5.4 protocol. Of the 27 species found, 21 were reported from Cahuita and 23 from Manzanillo. The shallow coral reefs’ health status in both sites was good in terms of diseases, bleaching and mortality due to their low incidence. Sessile cnidarians’ species composition, colonies’ sizes and coverage were dominated by massive and lobate scleractinians such as Pseudodiploria clivosa and Siderastrea siderea. Macroalgal coverage was low (below 20%) and mostly represented by brown algae. Sea urchins’ densities were also low (below 1 ind/m2 except for Echinometra viridis in Manzanillo) and they trend to continue decreasing as the years go by. La sedimentación, el aumento del turismo, las enfermedades de los corales y las altas temperaturas oceánicas se han convertido en una amenaza permanente para los arrecifes de coral en todo el mundo. El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar el estado de salud de los arrecifes poco profundos en Cahuita y Manzanillo, Limón, Costa Rica. Se creó una base de datos, incluyendo especies de todos los cnidarios sésiles coloniales y sus enfermedades conocidas. Posteriormente, 15 transectos fueron muestreados en cada sitio a lo largo de la costa en bandas de 10 x 1 m, siguiendo el protocolo AGRRA V5.4, y a profundidades entre 1-3 m. De las 27 especies encontradas, 21 fueron reportadas de Cahuita y 23 de Manzanillo. El estado de salud de los arrecifes de coral someros en ambos sitios fue bueno en términos de enfermedades, blanqueamiento y mortalidad debido a su baja incidencia. La composición de las especies de cnidarios sésiles, el tamaño y la cobertura de sus colonias fueron dominados por escleractinios masivos como Pseudodiploria clivosa y Siderastrea siderea. La cobertura de macroalgas fue baja (inferior al 20%) y mayoritariamente representada por algas pardas. Las densidades de erizos de mar también fueron bajas (por debajo de 1 ind/m2 excepto para Echinometra viridis en Manzanillo) y tienden a seguir disminuyendo a medida que pasan los años. Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica Centro de Estudios en Biodiversidad, Chile Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas 2024-04-17T22:36:21Z 2024-04-17T22:36:21Z 2017-12-30 http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 0719‐4986 http://hdl.handle.net/11056/27689 eng Acceso abierto http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Centro de Estudios en Biodiversidad (Chile) Biodiversity and Natural History Vol.3 No.2 48-55 2017
institution Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica
collection Repositorio UNA-Costa Rica
language Inglés
topic AGRRA
CORAL REEF
ESTADO DE SALUD
CARIBE
COSTA RICA
spellingShingle AGRRA
CORAL REEF
ESTADO DE SALUD
CARIBE
COSTA RICA
Araya-Vargas, Alexander
Nova-Bustos, Nidya
Health status evaluation of shallow coral reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Costa Rica
description Sedimentation, increased tourism, coral diseases and high ocean temperatures have become a permanent threat to reef areas worldwide. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the health status of the shallow reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Limon, Costa Rica. A database, including species of all colonial sessile cnidarians and their known diseases, was created for the studied area. Subsequently, 15 transects were surveyed along the coast in 1-3 m deep bands of 10 x 1 m following the AGRRA V5.4 protocol. Of the 27 species found, 21 were reported from Cahuita and 23 from Manzanillo. The shallow coral reefs’ health status in both sites was good in terms of diseases, bleaching and mortality due to their low incidence. Sessile cnidarians’ species composition, colonies’ sizes and coverage were dominated by massive and lobate scleractinians such as Pseudodiploria clivosa and Siderastrea siderea. Macroalgal coverage was low (below 20%) and mostly represented by brown algae. Sea urchins’ densities were also low (below 1 ind/m2 except for Echinometra viridis in Manzanillo) and they trend to continue decreasing as the years go by.
format Artículo
author Araya-Vargas, Alexander
Nova-Bustos, Nidya
author_sort Araya-Vargas, Alexander
title Health status evaluation of shallow coral reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Costa Rica
title_short Health status evaluation of shallow coral reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Costa Rica
title_full Health status evaluation of shallow coral reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Costa Rica
title_fullStr Health status evaluation of shallow coral reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Costa Rica
title_full_unstemmed Health status evaluation of shallow coral reefs in Cahuita and Manzanillo, Costa Rica
title_sort health status evaluation of shallow coral reefs in cahuita and manzanillo, costa rica
publisher Centro de Estudios en Biodiversidad (Chile)
publishDate 2024
url http://hdl.handle.net/11056/27689
_version_ 1796728484159029248
score 12.241071

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