Lesiones naturales y regeneración de tejido en ramets del coral Montastraea annularis (Scleractinia: Faviidae) en un arrecife degradado del Caribe Colombiano

Alvarado, Elvira; Acosta, Alberto

Export: <XML METS>

View/Open

Ver documento (758.0Kb)

Date

2009

Author

Alvarado, Elvira

Acosta, Alberto

Metadata

Show full item record

Documentos PDF

Abstract

El aumento en la intensidad y frecuencia de amenazas tanto de origen natural como antropogénico son factores causales de los cambios en el estatus de los arrecifes que se han venido presentando en las últimas tres décadas (Connell et al. 1997, Gardner et al. 2003). Este deterioro en los arrecifes se manifiesta en la pérdida de cobertura de tejido vivo y en la mortalidad parcial y total de corales, especialmente de aquellas especies que se encuentran en los arrecifes someros (Gardner et al. 2003). Estudios de poblaciones de especies de coral realizados en el Caribe reportan que los disturbios agudos de alta intensidad tienen grandes efectos sobre su estructura, dada la pérdida de individuos por mortalidad total y de cobertura de tejido vivo por mortalidad parcial causada por lesiones que no se recuperan (Edmunds 2002).

Summary in foreign language

Natural lesions and regeneration of ramets of Montastraea annularis (Scleractinia: Faviidae) in a degraded reef of the Colombian Caribbean. Currently, Montastraea annularis populations are suffering from high partial mortality rates; yet few studies have determined type, frequency and intensity of natural lesions in situ. During a year we followed natural lesions that appeared on healthy ramets of a population on a degraded reef within a Marine Protected Area in Colombia, to infer the effect on population size structure. From September 2003 to September 2004, 94% of the ramets presented lesions caused by bleaching, predation; or algae, sponge and borrower interactions. Predation caused 47% of the lesions and algae 36%; most lesions (85%) were small (60% of its live tissue) and were evident from September to November, yet total recovery was found in three months. In contrast, lesions by algae (36%), showed less recovery (6.7%), and a tendency to grow in time. In general, percentage of affected tissue area of a ramet in any month was lower than 10%. Nevertheless from May to September, the area affected was larger (10-50%) due to an increase in frequency and abundance of predation, bleaching and algal damage, and a decrease in recovery. At the end of the year, lesions that did not recover caused partial mortality in 25% of the ramets. Ramets with lesions shrunk throughout the year and by the end of year, 21% passed to a smaller class size. Rev. Biol. Trop. 57 (4): 939-954. Epub 2009 December 01.

Palabras clave

Arrecifes; Corales; Especies

Comments