Scientific articles
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2009
Crawling to Collapse: Ecologically Unsound Ornamental Invertebrate Fisheries
Background: Fishery management has historically been an inexact and reactionary discipline, often taking action only after a critical stock suffers overfishing or collapse. The invertebrate ornamental fishery in the State of Florida, with increasing catches over a more diverse array of species, is poised for collapse. Current management is static and the lack of an adaptive strategy will not allow for adequate responses associated with managing this multi-species fishery. The last decade has seen aquarium hobbyists shift their display preference from fish-only tanks to miniature reef ecosystems that include many invertebrate species, creating increased demand without proper oversight....
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2009
Coral Health and Disease in the Pacific: Vision for Action
Coral Health and Disease in the Pacific: Vision for Action
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2009
The KSLOF GIS Data Portal: Administrative and User Guide to the Portal
The KSLOF GIS Data Portal: Administrative and User Guide to the Portal
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2009
Disease has dramatically reduced populations of the herbivorous urchin Diadema antillarum Philippi on Caribbean reefs, contributing to an increased abundance of macroalgae and reduction of coral cover. Therefore, recovery of D. antillarum populations is critically important, but densities are still low on many reefs. Among the many potential factors limiting these densities, the focus of this study is on predation pressure by fishes. Marine reserves provide opportunities to examine large-scale manipulations of predator–prey interactions and, therefore, D. antillarum densities were compared inside and outside a reserve in The Bahamas (Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park; ECLSP). Urchins and their fish predators...
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2009
The idea of landscapes as shifting patch mosaics, structured by a range of biological and physical stochastic forces, is well suited to shallow tropical environments, where seagrass patches lie within a matrix of soft sediments or rocky substrates. The interaction of wave fields and tidal currents with carbonate sediment transport can result in linear morphologies of reef flat material with alternating sand tongues and seagrass beds. Patch-level metrics capture phenomena such as linearity in one variable, which can be evaluated over a gradient of predictable environmental change. Interrogating the statistical properties of patch ensembles enables the links between observed...
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2009
In June 2007, the US government proposed Corallium (pink and red corals) for listing on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The proposal was adopted and later overturned due to perceived difficulties in implementing and enforcing a CITES listing and uncertainties on population status. An expert review (Food and Agriculture Organization) questioned whether populations had declined to 20–30% of the historic baseline, the level required for a CITES Appendix II listing. This review used colony abundance and density as surrogates of decline, which may be high (200 to 1300 colonies m–2) in the Mediterranean....
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2009
Progress in Understanding Coral Disease in the Caribbean
Coral disease research in the Caribbean initiated in 1972 with the discovery of black band disease (BDD) by Dr. Arnfred Antonius. Since this time, there has been an expansion in the number of researchers working in the Caribbean, including studies to document the prevalence and incidence across large spatial scales and at increased temporal frequencies, evaluation of the linkages between disease and environmental drivers, identification of disease vectors, and laboratory studies to characterize causes, physiological responses, histological changes, defense mechanisms and mechanisms of resistance and susceptibility. Since 1998, the Caribbean has emerged as a “hot spot” for coral diseases due to...
