High-Latitude Acropora cervicornis Thickets Off Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA

Authors

Bernardo Vargas-Ángel, Nova Southeastern University
James Darwin Thomas, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
S. Michael Hoke, Nova Southeastern University

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Coral Reefs

ISSN

0722-4028

Publication Date

12-2003

Keywords

Acropora cervicornis, Fort Lauderdale, Distribution, Abundance

Abstract

Baseline studies conducted in 1998 document the presence of robust, non-reef-building Acropora cervicornis thickets in shallow (3–7 m depth), near-shore waters off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. These thickets thrive in a high-latitude environment, the northernmost in the continental USA, in the midst of potential anthropogenic stressors. Within thickets, the spatial variation in mean percent coral cover, macroalgal cover, scleractinian species richness, density of A. cervicornis juveniles, and the density and size of A. cervicornis colonies and fragments were recorded. Thicket size ranged between ~0.1 and 0.8 ha and mean coral cover varied between ~5 and 28%, with A. cervicornis accounting for ~87–97% of all scleractinians. Mean A. cervicornis colony and fragment densities per thicket were 1.3–3.3 colonies m⁻² and 0.7–2.8 fragments m⁻², respectively. Recruit densities varied between 0 and 1 ind. m⁻². White band disease was detected at all thickets, with a mean A. cervicornis colony surface area affected of 1.8%. For all thickets, densities of the corallivorous polychaete Hermodice carunculata ranged between ~18 and 86 ind. ha⁻¹, with predation scars affecting <0.2% of the A. cervicornis cover. These flourishing A. cervicornis thickets off Fort Lauderdale provide an interesting counterpoint to the declining and disease-stricken A. cervicornis populations reported in the Florida Keys and wider Caribbean.

DOI

10.1007/s00338-003-0336-z

Volume

22

Issue

4

First Page

465

Last Page

473

Comments

©Springer-Verlag 2003

Additional Comments

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Ocean Program award #: NA06OA0390

NSUWorks Citation

Bernardo Vargas-Ángel, James Darwin Thomas, and S. Michael Hoke. 2003. High-Latitude Acropora cervicornis Thickets Off Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA .Coral Reefs , (4) : 465 -473. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/577.